


Love Is Blind

by TeaEnthusiast



Category: Game of Thrones (TV), Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-09-22 15:13:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9613319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaEnthusiast/pseuds/TeaEnthusiast
Summary: Gerty has never really felt like she was missing too much for being blind. She was very independent, had great friends, and met a sweet guy she liked. Of course, if she wasn't blind, she would know the guy who introduced himself as Kit Catesby was really Kit Harington.(Story as well as extras for it can be found on my tumblr; http://teaenthusiast65.tumblr.com/)





	1. Chapter 1

It all started with a banana smoothie.

I’d only been working at the Adelphi for a month when I discovered the charming little café called ‘Supreme Smoothies’. There was a list of pre-made smoothies available or patrons of the café could make up their own smoothie from the list of ingredients available.

The café smelled deliciously of fresh fruit and dairy products. I could hear the whirling of the blenders and the cling of the till as I waited in line.

“Next waiting,” called the cashier.

Taking a few steps forward, my hand bumped into the edge of the counter and I knew I was at the front of the line.

“Hi, what can I do for you?” asked the cashier.

“Can I have a smoothie with one banana, honey, coconut, vanilla yoghurt and milk please?” I asked, hoping they had caught everything I had said. I’d ordered the drink so many times over the past month that I was saying the ingredients of my drink fast and faster with each order.

“Banana, honey, coconut, vanilla yoghurt and milk?” repeated the cashier.

“Yep.” I smiled.

“Alright, that will be five pounds.”

Reaching into my handbag I found my wallet and slipped my hand inside, I found the small folded square that indicated a five-pound note. Grabbing it, I handed it to the cashier before I stepped to the side.

The whirl of the multiple blenders was loud, but even still I heard a voice by the counter ask, “Can I have what she just ordered?”

“The banana, honey, vanilla smoothie?” asked the cashier.

“Ah, yeah I think it had something else in it.” Said the voice.

“Coconut.” I added.

“Coconut! Thank you.” Said the customer, whose deep voice was easily distinguishable over the high hum of the blenders. The voice had a low timbre to it, meaning the man who it belonged to spoke from the back of his throat. He had an accent that was mostly British, but had the lightest undertone of a Scottish accent.

I felt a little flattered that the mysterious customer had not only been listening to my order, but had liked it enough to order one himself!

“You’re welcome.” I said as I stood there waiting for my smoothie, “I hope you enjoy it.”

“It sounds good.” He said, his voice sounded slightly louder as he came closer to me to wait for his own smoothie.

“It’s not only delicious but it’s actually really good for you.” I told him.

“Really?” he asked.

He actually sounding curious as to my reasoning behind my chosen ingredients, not as if he was just being polite because I was speaking to him.

“Bananas are an excellent source of potassium. And honey is great for digestion. The coconut does wonders for the throat.” I told him.

“I didn’t know honey was good for digestion.” He replied.

“Well,” I began feeling far happier than I should have at a chance to show off some of my culinary knowledge, “Honey is really easy for us to digest because it’s already been digested by the bees. Honey is essentially bee vomit.”

“Honey is bee vomit? Seriously?” he asked, sounding genuinely shocked.

“Yeah. You didn’t know that?”

“No. I didn’t. I just thought the bees turned pollen into honey for building their hives and stuff. I didn’t know they actually ate it.” He explained.

“Does it count as eating if they throw it up right afterwards?” I asked with a frown.

“I’m not really sure. So your saying all bees are basically bulimic?” he asked.

“Pretty much.”

“Wow. And I thought bees were interested because they danced to communicate. Turns out they also throw up as well.” He joked.

I laughed loudly.

“Two banana, coconut and honey smoothies.” Called a voice.

I turned my head in the direction of the voice, where was the smoothie?

I heard the sound of plastic stabbing into plastic and I knew the man I had been talking to had just stabbed his straw into his smoothie and was obviously drinking it.

“So what’s the verdict?” I asked curiously.

“It’s really good.” He told me.

Smiling I turned my attention back to where the voice had come from, “Where’s the smoothie?” I asked no one in particular.

“It’s right in front of you.” Said the man, seeming confused that I couldn’t see it.

“Where?” I asked.

“Right there.” He laughed, “What are you-”

“Blind?” I finished as I turned to look at him, “Yeah.”

There was a moment of dead silence and I waved my free hand where my folded red and white cane was.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Said the man, the regret clear in his voice, “here!” he said, frantically pressing the smoothie cup into my free hand.

I laughed at how flustered he suddenly seemed, “Don’t worry about it.”

And with that, I flexed out my cane, holding in it one hand and my smoothie in the other, I headed out the door. I would have liked to have stayed and chatted but I was running out of time on my break and still needed to get back to the theatre on time.

So I left without another word. Happy to have just had a pleasant conversation with a stranger.  

…

I didn’t think anything of the meeting until that Saturday. I had just finished ordering my smoothie when I heard it.

“My banana smoothie girl!” a voice cried.

I looked up, I knew that voice.

“Banana smoothie copier?” I asked curiously, was it really him? The man with the low voice who smells slightly of tobacco and some musky hair product that smelled amazing.

“Yeah its me.” He said and I could hear the smile in his voice, “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Fancy you remembering me.” I said, feeling a little shocked that he had.

“How could I forget the girl that introduced me to a great smoothie and educated me about bees?” he challenged.

I laughed, that was a pretty unique combination that would be hard to forget. I’m glad he associated it with me.

“Are you heading off somewhere?” he asked.

“No, I was thinking of staying here to enjoy my smoothie. Assuming I can find a table.” I said simply, was he asking me out?

“Mind if I join you?”

I resisted the urge to smile. I didn’t like it when people treated me differently once they found out I was blind. But this guy had shown an interest in me before he knew about my condition and instead of scaring him off, he almost seemed more intrigued by the fact that I couldn’t see. An interesting paradox. But more so, he had remembered me, some random girl who he had talked about smoothies with two days ago, which I liked. So I nodded as I gestured for him to lead the way as I tapped my cane against the ground.

It was very easy to follow the sound of his footsteps, he walked with such a purpose. I heard the scraping of the legs of a chair against the floor and as my cane hit a small square I realized he had pulled a chair out for me.

“Thank you.” I smiled as I sat down. I set my drink on the table in front of me before I went about folding away my cane, “So, besides having an interest in banana smoothies, what else do you do with yourself?” I asked curiously, “Do you work around here?”

“Yeah, I do. I work at the Duke of York theatre.” He said simply.

“What’s playing there?” I asked curiously as I reached out and grabbed my drink.

“A play called Doctor Faustus.” He explained.

“I’ve never heard of it. Is it any good?” I asked as I sipped my drink.

“It’s a bit confrontational. A bit gory.”

“What, like blood and guts?”

“Yeah, I don’t know if you’re into that sort of thing.” He said.

I shrugged my shoulders, “Nothing wrong with a little blood and guts. It’s not like I can see it anyway. Though fake blood smells suspiciously like chocolate.” I told him.

He laughed, “Yeah it does.”

I turned my head towards what I assumed was a window, I could feel a certain amount of coolness coming off to my right, but the warmth of my face was also coming from that direction, meaning there was a window there. I briefly wondered what was outside before the man I was with spoke again, forcing my attention back to him.

“So what do you do with yourself? Besides knowing an absurd amount about bees.” He asked.

“Well that’s pretty much it.” I grinned, “But I work at the Adelphi theatre.”

“That explains we are both here on a Saturday afternoon.” He said and I frowned in confusion, “Double show day.”

“Ah yes.” I agreed, “Every Thursday and Saturday. Like clockwork.”

I liked that the two of us had the same work schedule. I liked that we were both here at the same café in between the two shows that our respective theatres put on every Thursday and Saturday.

“I can’t remember what’s on at the Adelphi right now. Some sort of musical?” he asked.

“Kinky boots.” I told him.

“Right. Is it any good?”

I shrugged, “Not really.”

“What? That’s not right. You’re supposed to think it’s the greatest musical ever because your apart of it.” He joked.

“Well the story is great but I think the music is a little dull.” I explained.

“I’m guessing you have something to do in the music department then?” he asked.

“Correct.”

“Let me guess… first violin?”

I pulled a face, “God no.”

“Piano?”

“You’re getting colder.” 

“I give up. Tell me.” He sighed.

“Cello.” I smiled.

“Cello? Nice. Does the score not cater for the cello very much?” he asked curiously.

“Most scores don’t.” I told him.

“So you must be a really be fan of that really famous cello player… what’s his name?” he asked.

“Yoyo Ma.” I said immediately, “And no. I’m not actually. I mean, he’s a great cello player, but my taste is a little different to the stuff he plays.”

“What is your taste in music?” he asked curiously as I heard the clink of his cup being placed down on the table.

“Have you heard of a band called The Darkness?” I asked curiously.

“No.”

“It’s sort of an early nineties rock band. Think Aerosmith meets AC/DC.” I explained.

“Sounds like a great band. But you’re a fan of AC/DC? Really?” he asked.

“I’m Australian. I kind of have to be.” I shrugged.

“That’s where your accent is from. I’ve been trying to place it ever since I heard you speak.” He said, sounding happy that he finally knew where I was from.

“Have you ever been to Australia?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah I have. Nearly died when I came across one of those big ass spiders you’ve got over there in my hotel room.” He said.

“Huntsmen’s.” I told him.

“Freaked me out.”

“They’re not poisonous. You’re better off just to let them be.” I said in a matter of fact tone.

“I couldn’t. I sprayed it with my deodorant until it died.” He said in a matter of fact tone.

“Deodorant?” I laughed.

“I had to improvise.” He explained.

I laughed again, loudly. For some reason I had the image of the men from a deodorant add that has all the girls frolicking to his side because he smells so good. Now that image starred a spider instead of an attractive man.

“So how long have you been in London?” he asked curiously.

“Not long. Just a few months. Me and my two roommates moved over here in February.” I explained.

“And have you gone and seen the sites?” he asked.

“Ironically I haven’t seen anything.” I grinned.

“Oh god, sorry. I completely forgot. That’s not what I meant-” he stammered and I waved him off with my hand.

“It’s a joke. Relax.” I told him, but his stammered apology had told me something interesting; he forgot. He forgot I was blind which meant he didn’t just see me for my disability. I was beginning to like this guy more and more.

“So, ah,” he began, seeming unsure, “What kind of television shows are you into?” he asked, while the question itself was casual enough, there seemed to be a real interest behind it which intrigued me.

“I don’t really watch television.” I told him, “I mean, I work almost every night so I can’t really watch anything that’s on. I prefer movies.”

“What’s your favourite movie then?”

“Braveheart with Mel Gibson. Love the soundtrack.” I smiled, “You?”

“I’m a horror movie fan. The Shining is my favourite.”

“That’s cool. Do you get scared in horror movies?” I asked curiously.

“I used to. But then I became an actor and I realized that it’s all fake.” He said nonchalantly.

“Oh you’re an actor? That’s cool. Have you been in anything I might have seen?” I asked curiously.

“I doubt you would have _seen_ anything I was in.” he teased.

I laughed, “Touché.”

“But seriously though, you haven’t been to the London Eye? Big Ben?” he asked.

I shook my head, “My roommates aren’t really into that touristy stuff. So I’ve got no one to go with.”

“I’ll take you.” He said immediately.

“Really?” I asked in surprise, “Wont you be super bored? I mean, you must have seen all that stuff a hundred times.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to spend more time with him, on the contrary I was actually really interested in getting to know him more. I was just more concerned that we would be doing something that he would find boring. If he wanted to spend time with me I was more than happy to go bowling or something.

“I won’t be bored. It will give me a chance to show off how smart I am.” He said simply.

“You mean after you google everything?” I grinned.

“Exactly.”

I laughed, “Alright. I’m in. When did you want to go?”

“Well, tomorrow is my only day off and I’m busy. But I’m free Monday during the day.” He offered.

“That works.” I smiled.

As if just so happened, I had a matinee performance on Sunday, Monday was my only free day and night.

“Great,” he replied and I could hear the genuine delight in his voice at my having agreed, “we’ll meet here? Get a smoothie before we head out sightseeing?”

“That sounds great.”

“Do you want to give me your number?” He asked.

“Yeah. Give me your phone.” I smiled as I held my hand out.

A smooth object was placed in my hand that I assumed was his phone. Fishing my own out from my pocket I simply tapped my phone against his and smiled, “There.”

“What did you do?”

“I have an app on my phone that transfers my contact details to you if I just tap my screen against yours.” I explained as I placed his phone on the table and put my phone up to my lips, “New contact information.” I asked my phone.

“New contact; Christopher.” The robotic voice on my phone answered.

“That’s so cool.” He marvelled, “And what name should I search for in my phone? Banana Smoothie Girl?” he asked.

“Try Gertrude. Though my friends call me Gerty.” I explained.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Gerty.” He smiled.

“Nice to meet you Christopher. Or do you prefer Chris?” I asked curiously.

“Most people call me Kit actually.” He replied.

“Kit? That’s an odd nickname for Christopher.” I frowned, “Kit just makes me think of those chocolate bars called ‘Kit-Kats’”

He laughed, “Those are delicious.”

“That’s all I’m going to picture now every time I talk to you. A kit-kat chocolate bar.” I smiled.

“Makes sense. I associate you with banana smoothies.” He said simply.

I laughed again, “So,” I began as I leaned forward on the table with interest, “What sites shall we be visiting tomorrow?”

“Well the London Eye and Big Ben are pretty close to each other. Then there is the London bridge near them.” He told me.

“Are we going to go to Buckingham palace?” I asked curiously.

“Oh, we have to.” He replied.

“If it helps, I’ve never been to Hyde Park.” I said helpfully.

“Well we have to go there as well. How have you not seen Hyde Park?” he asked.

“I haven’t really seen any of London to be honest.” I smiled.

He laughed, “Do you often do that?”

“Do what?”

“Make jokes about your um,” he seemed to struggle for words.

“Disability?” I suggested.

“Yeah.”

I shrugged, “I don’t take myself too seriously. And if you can’t poke fun at yourself then what can you do?”

“That’s very true.” He said, seeming thoughtful, “I guess I take myself too seriously sometimes.”

“Well you should do something silly immediately.” I advised him in a serious tone, “I mean it. Tell me the lamest joke you can think of right now!”

“Ah ok,” he began seeming unsure, “Ah, what is the fastest cake in the world?”

“I have no idea.” I replied.

“Scone.”

I laughed loudly and he chuckled.

“Ok, I’ve got a good one; what was the ghost arrested for?”

“I don’t know.”

“Possession.” I grinned.

He chuckled, “You know these are basically considered dad jokes right?”

“Nothing wrong with a good old fashioned dad joke.” I smiled, “They’re good for all ages. They’re not dirty.”

“Oh I know a dirty dad joke.” He countered.

“Really? Well now you have to tell me.”

“It’s more of a statement really.” He explained, “But don’t you think sex in an elevator is awesome on so many levels?”

I chuckled as I grabbed my drink and took a sip, “That was a good one.”

It was then that my phone beeped, alerting me to the fact that I was running out of time on my break and needed to head back to the theatre, “Sorry, I have to get going.” I told him regretfully as I grabbed my smoothie and my cane.

“I’ll walk you out.” He said immediately and I heard the scraping of his chair legs against the floor indicating he had stood up.

Using my stick and my memory as a reference, I headed towards the door only to find that Kit had pulled it open for me, the sound of the door swinging forward and the rush of cold air alerting me to the fact as I stepped through the thresh hold.

Our theatres were in different directions so there was no hope of us walking back together, so I simply smiled and said, “See you on Monday?”

“See you on Monday.” He replied, making it sound like a promise.

Smiling I headed off towards the theatre feeling slight chuffed and a little excited. I wasn’t sure if my meet up with Kit on Monday was a date, but he was defiantly an interesting guy who was interested in me and I was excited to spend more time with him and explore if there could be something between us.

I was quietly hopeful that there was, but I was going to play it cool for now.

 


	2. Chapter 2

“So who is this guy?” asked Paul as he lounged on my bed.

“Just a guy I met at a café.” I said flippantly as I sat on the edge of my bed, my pet rabbit, Sir Hops-A-Lot, was nestled comfortably in my lap as I stroked his fur.

James, Paul’s boyfriend, was currently going through my wardrobe planning my outfit for tomorrow. The moment I mentioned that I was going site-seeing with a guy I met, that had set off alarm bells in his head and he immediately felt the need to tear through my wardrobe and dress me up like I was some sort of life sized doll.

“I’m thinking your black blazer. You know the one that looks like it could be a part of a suit ensemble?” asked James, I heard the sliding of coat hangers along the rail in my wardrobe.

“Isn’t that a little too formal?” I asked, “I mean it’s not a date.”

“Not if I pair it with your skinny jeans. Gives the whole look a completely different feel.” He countered.

“Who says it’s not a date? Him or you?” asked Paul curiously.

“Me I guess? We didn’t really talk about it.” I shrugged.

“Do you want it to be a date?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t mind. But I’m not about to go assuming it is a date without getting to know him a little better. I mean, I have no idea what his intentions are.” I explained, “At the moment we’re just hanging out and bonding over mutual smoothie love.”

“Well, I hope it’s a date. You’ve been single too long.” Said Paul in a matter of fact tone, “not that I don’t love rubbing my beautiful relationship in your single face.”

“Aw, thanks babe.” Cooed James, “Feeding off other people’s misery is really the highlight of our relationship.”

“Oh, you so get me.” Said Paul.

“Yes, thanks for that. You two make me want to puke with your adorableness.” I interrupted.

“If only you could see us in matching jumpers.” Said James happily.

At that Paul sighed and I would have bet a large amount of money to he was rolling his eyes.

Paul was my best friend and fellow cello player. The two of us had grown up together and through our mutual love of music we had been friends ever since we met. He had been there through the highs and lows of my life, so when I proposed the crazy idea of moving to London, he had of course wanted to come.

His excuse was ‘to keep my out of trouble’ but I had a hunch he worried about me.

His boyfriend James had of course decided to join us. He and Paul had been in a relationship for a while now and I was quite fond of James as well.

“Hey, I did a new arrangement of Thunderstruck to submit to the studios.” Said Paul suddenly, bringing my attention back to him.

Part of the reason Paul and I had moved to London was because we were both trying to secure a record deal. We were both amazing cello players, that wasn’t really an impressive fete, but we were unique in the fact that we loved to play rock music with our cellos. That was our selling point to recording companies.

Paul had a brilliant ear for transposing what was typically a rock song played by a guitar into two cello solos.

Thunderstruck by AC/DC was a classic. We were going to play it for some of the Labels representatives and see what they thought of our unique take on good old fashioned rock and roll.

“Brilliant. Have you gotten around to doing ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’?” I asked curiously.

“AC/DC is more of a crowd pleaser. I think that should be the one we play for the representatives.” He told me.

I didn’t disagree, but I had a special place in my heart for Nirvana and wanted to play one of their most famous songs.

“What time do you think you and this guy will be done by?” asked James curiously.

“Ah, I’d say after lunch sometime.” I guessed, “We’re meeting at ten-thirty tomorrow.”

“I’m going to call you as soon as your done and demand details.” He informed me.

I rolled my eyes, “You can’t wait until I get home?”

“Hell no!” interrupted Paul, “I have been missing my reality shows and your life is as close as I can get until I binge watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

I pulled a face, “How can you watch that shit?”

“Hey don’t judge!” he said, “Kim is queen.”

“Please.” Dismissed James, “If anyone is queen it is Taylor Swift.”

“Kimmy is way better that Tay-Tay.” Said Paul.

“Excuse me? What exactly is Kim famous for?” demanded James.

“I was going to suggest Beyonce but you two go ahead.” I smiled as I continued to stroke my rabbit.

And ‘go head’ they did. Neither James nor Paul gave up for the next hour in arguing who they thought the queen of the world should be; Taylor Swift or Kim Kardashian.

Never mind that we were in a country where an actual queen not only reigned but lived. But apparently that was just an insignificant detail.

…

I ended up wearing the outfit that James had picked out, which was a Manoush Geometric Flutter Sleeve blouse, blue jeans and my brown boots.

My light brown hair was really getting too long, so I pulled it up into a pony tail and teamed it with Linda Farrow Rose gold-plated mirrored aviators.

Slipping on my glasses, I made my way from Covert Garden train station to ‘Smoothie Supreme’ where Kit was waiting.

“Hey, there you are.” He said when I approached.

“Hi.” I smiled as my cane touched what I assumed was his foot and I came to a stop.

“I got you a banana smoothie.” He said as he grabbed my free hand and placed a cup into it.

“Thank you.” I smiled as I put the straw to my lips and took a sip.

“You look nice today.” He told me.

“I wouldn’t know.” I smiled.

He laughed, “Well we better head off, got lots of places to go.”

“Wait,” I said as I folded up my cane, “Give me your arm. I hate walking long distances with my cane.” I explained.

I wasn’t lying, I really did hate walking for long periods of time with my cane, it just screamed to the world that I was blind and I didn’t like that. But it was also a test; if a guy was wanting a strictly platonic relationship he would hold his arm out away from his body, so even though I was grasping his arm, the most amount of space that could be allowed was between us.

If a guy was interested in me, he would pull me close so my hand was between him and the side of his chest, pulling me to his side. The reason I knew so much about body language was because I couldn’t technically see anything, so I had to rely on other things like the tone of peoples voices or the way they treated and touched me to see how they felt about me.

As I wrapped my fingers around the part of Kit’s arm above his elbow, he didn’t hesitate to pull me so close that I could feel his elbow against my ribs which caused me to smile quite smugly. I noted with interest that Kit had quite muscled arms. Nothing overly noticeable but I could feel the hard muscle through the material of my jacket.

We walked along the river Thames towards parliament house and Big Ben. I wrinkled my nose as we walked, not enjoying the stench that the river was producing.

“Do you mind if I smoke?” asked Kit as we walked.

“Not at all. I actually love the smell of tobacco.” I told him, “Are they rollie’s?”

“Nah, normal ones.” He explained.

“I’d prefer the smell of cigarette smoke over the river.” I said as I wrinkled my nose.

I heard him sniff, “I can’t smell anything.” He said, “Is it true what they say? When you lose one sense all your others become heightened?”

“Yeah.” I said, “I didn’t notice it at first, but when I could hear things in the next room or smell what the neighbours were having for dinner it was kind of cool. It was like having super powers.” I smiled.

“So you haven’t always been blind?” he asked curiously.

“No, I was in an accident when I was about ten.” I explained.

“What happened?” he asked, with a strange amount of tenderness creeping into his voice.

“My sister was deep frying some fish and I leaned over the deep fryer and some oil splashed up into my eyes and burnt my cornea’s.” I explained.

“My god, that’s terrible.” He said, his voice low.

“I know.” I sighed, “Turned me off deep fried fish for life,”

He chuckled, the sound wafting over my skin and I felt a little warmer knowing that I had been the one to make him laugh like that.

Arriving at parliament house, Kit steered us towards the clock tower, “It was built in 1859.” He told me, “Its officially known as the Elizabeth Tower after the queens diamond jubilee. Before that it was simply known as the clock tower.”

“Wow. Thank you Wikipedia for those insightful titbits.” I smiled.

“No, I googled that.” He replied and I laughed.

I posed for a photo on the bridge with a clear picture of the famous clock, otherwise known as Big Ben, in the background, “That should look good on my Facebook account.” I smiled at Kit handed me back my phone.

“You have Facebook?” he asked curiously.

“I kind of have to in order to promote my music. But I have a separate private page that I just use to communicate with friends and family. I don’t post many status’s and stuff. But my friend Paul, he loves our music page. He’s always updating it.” I explained, “What about you? Do you have Facebook?”

“Nah. I don’t really see the point. It’s too intrusive.” He explained as we walked, both of my hands folded over his arm.

“What? You’re an actor. Don’t all actors have to have Facebook to get their name out there and stuff?” I asked incredulously. That was the whole point of Paul and mines Facebook page, to get fans and show studios they could make money from us.

“Yeah they do. But Facebook is basically a tool for strangers to peer into your private life. I don’t like that. I like to keep my private life private.” He explained.

There was a tone in his voice that I detected with interest, “You sound like someone who really values his privacy.” I observed.

“I’ve had problems in the past of people sharing things that I didn’t want to shared.” He explained, though he spoke casually there was a hard edge to his voice, “Peoples motivations seem to change when they think they can make money off of you.”

There was something incredibly sad about the situation he was describing. Not being able to trust people? That sounded very isolating. Being blind, I had grown to rely a lot on the kindness of strangers. Even though I preferred to do things myself, there were just some situations I could not overcome without assistance. Something as simple as reading a menu had to be read to me.

And here Kit was, seeming to want to close himself off to everyone because he feared he would be used. He feared that no one really had any pure motivations left when dealing with him.

“Well if it makes you feel any better, I’m only using you for your site-seeing prowess.” I told him seriously and he laughed again, “Like after today unless you have any more useless facts about British landmarks I’m out.” I joked. 

“Damn. I’ll have to think of some more.” He sighed, “Well we’re coming up to the London Eye, its one-hundred and thirty-five meters tall and one-hundred and twenty meters wide.” He said in a matter of fact tone.

“So it’s the biggest Ferris wheel in the world?” I asked curiously.

“No, it’s the biggest one in Europe. The biggest one is in Las Vegas and is a hundred and sixty-eight meters tall.” He explained.

“What? It’s not the biggest? Well that’s just lame. Why are we even seeing it?” I teased.

He laughed, “Do you want to go up?”

“Why? To enjoy the view?”

“Ah, I didn’t think of that.” He stammered, suddenly sounding unsure.

“Relax.” I assured him, “Come on. Let’s go up.” I smiled.

Paying for our tickets we headed into what felt like a warm room as heat was coming off all of the walls which made me think the room was made of glass. I was just about to ask what the view was like when the ground beneath me suddenly shudders and I clutched at Kit fearfully, “What was that?” I demanded.

“Just the wheel moving.” He explained, “We’re going up.”

But Kit was moving. The floor was moving. I needed something steady to hold onto or I was going to fall over.

“It there a railing or something I can grab?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He said and he lead me over to the side of the room and, grabbing my hand from his arm, he very gently placed it on the rail.

As soon as I knew where it was, I gripped the railing with both hands. The feeling of the cold unmoving steel was comforting to me.

“So tell me, what’s the view like?” I asked conversationally.

“Ah,” he said seeming unsure and I heard him shift beside me, “It’s really grey actually. Grey, blue, some brown and black. It all kind of blurs together. We’re getting up pretty high now.” He said and his voice shook.

I turned my head in the direction of his voice, “Are you afraid of heights?”

“No. I’m fine.” He said, though his voice was unnaturally high.

“You don’t sound fine.” I said as I straightened up, sliding my hand along the rail, I eventually found his hand and placed my hand over his. There was something I liked about his hand, it was smooth, not like leather of a working man’s hand, but they were still calloused enough that they were manly.

I liked the way his hand felt in mine, but I could feel how tightly he was gripping the railing and I knew my touch was not distracting enough, “Close your eyes.” I told him as I stepped closer to him.

“Why?” he asked tensely.

“Because everything is a lot less scary if you close your eyes.” I told him.

I wasn’t sure if he had done it, but I placed my other hand on what I assumed was his arm before I forced him to face me, “Ok, what do you feel? Do you feel the floor moving beneath us?”

“Um, yeah. Its kind of like its vibrating.” He said.

“Yep, what else? Take a deep breath in, what do you smell?” I encouraged.

“Ah… I smell, well, I can’t really smell anything.” He said simply.

“Really? You can’t smell my shampoo? Its coconut. I’m trying to be a hula girl you see.” I told him.

“You have a thing for coconut. In your hair, in your smoothie.” He listed.

“Coconut is good for many wondrous things. Good for the throat. Smells good. Coconut oil is good for the skin too.” I added lightly.

“Do you have any fascinating facts about coconuts?” he asked.

“Well those brown ones you see in the movies? Most coconut products aren’t made from them. Their made from the big green ones in Indonesia.” I told him.

“That wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be.” He replied.

“Sorry. I have some great facts about fish. Do you know a female goldfish is called a twit? Quite fitting actually.” I smiled.

“You don’t like children?”

“I like them from a distance.”

He laughed.

“The floor has stopped moving. I think that means the ride is over.” I observed. 

“What?” he asked sounding startled, “Oh it is. I didn’t even notice.”

“See? Not scared anymore are you?” I grinned as I released his hand. I instantly missed the feel of him by my side, we had been in close proximity to each other all day and even though I could hear him breathing just in front of me, I wanted to be closer.

“I wasn’t scared.” He dismissed.

“Whatever.” I grinned. He had been scared. I knew it.

“Oh damn.” He said suddenly, “We’ve missed the changing of the guard. I didn’t realize how long this would take.”

“That’s ok, we can go another time.” I shrugged, “I mean its not like it happens every day?”

He laughed, “Shall we go get something for lunch?”

“Yes. I’m starving.” I told him, “Where can I get a good hamburger?”

“There’s a Grill’d just around the corner.” He offered.

“Good. Let’s go there.”

We walked down the street and I noticed Kit seemed to be in a hurry. As if he didn’t want to be out in the open for too long. I was tempted to bring it up, but I figured he was just as hungry as I was.

The cool wind from outside disappeared and I realized we were inside when I could smell cooking meat.

“Great thing about Grill’d is that I come here so often I know the menu.” I explained as we came to a stop and I assumed we were waiting in line. 

“I’m guessing you like hamburgers?” he asked.

“No, I also like their sweet potato chips.” I told him.

“Really? Figure like yours I’d assume you’d hate anything with carbs.” He said speculatively.

“I work out. Kick boxing mostly.” I told him before something suddenly occurred to me, “Have you been taking a particular interest in my figure Mr. Kit?” I asked, catching his phrasing with interest.

“What? No. Maybe. I was just saying, like, in general.” He said sounding sheepish.

I grinned, that was the second time he had showed interest in me. First by the way he let me hold his arm and secondly, was revealing he had been checking me out.

“Well I notice you work out too.” I told him.

“What? How?”

“Your arm. I can feel the muscles in it.” I explained, his arm a light squeeze.

“Oh.” He said, seeming to only just realize my hand was wrapped around his bicep.

“Do you do weights?” I asked curiously.

“Ah, no. Just general gym stuff to keep fit.” He explained.

“You ever tried kickboxing? I picked it up around eighteen months ago and I love it.” I said conversationally.

“No. I do a lot of stunt fighting for work. That’s taught me a few things.” He said.

“Stunt fighting? That’s not real fighting. It’s all choreographed.” I teased.

“It’s still fighting.” He defended.

“Is not.”

“It too!”

“Is not! You know when the other guy is gonna hit you. It doesn’t count.” I said incredulously.

Stepping forward at his direction, I placed my hand out in front of me until I felt the edge of the counter, “Hi, what can I get for you?” asked the girl behind the counter.

“I’ll have a Golden Glow Chicken Snchitzel burger with sweet potato chips?” I asked.

“Yep. And what can I get for- oh!” she said sounding shocked, “Hello.”

“Hi.” Said Kit.

I frowned, did he know the cashier?

“Can I get a Crispy Bacon, Beef and Cheese burger with wedges?” he asked rather quickly.

“Yeah, sure. Absolutely.” She said, sounding a little flustered, “Ah, here’s your table number.”

“Great.” Said Kit a little too quickly before he tugged on my arm and we moved through the restaurant. I heard the sliding of a chair against the floor and suddenly my hand was met with the back of a chair.

“Thanks.” I said as I released Kit’s arm and sat down, settling myself in my seat I waited until I heard the scraping of his chair, telling me that he had sat down before I spoke, “Did you know her?”

“Who?”

“The cashier. Seemed like she knew you.”

“Oh no. she just recognized me from some of my work.” He said dismissively.

“Your theatre work?” I asked.

“Yeah probably.” He said quickly.

“Huh. So what made you want to be an actor?” I asked curiously.

“I love story telling. It was either an actor or a journalist.” He explained, “but enough about me. Let’s talk about you.”

“What about me?”

“Well, what do you do?”

“I play cello in an orchestra.” I shrugged.

“Yeah and?” he probed.

“What do you mean and?”

“And like, I know there is more to you that just being a cello player.” He said pointedly.

“Ok, um,” I began, desperately searching for something else I could tell him about myself, “Well I mainly play cello with my friend Paul. He transposes rock ballads into cello pieces and we play them.”

“Really? That’s awesome.” He said and I could hear the genuine excitement in his voice.

“We play classics too. But I prefer to rock out.” I smiled.

“How does someone rock out on a cello?” he asked curiously.

I grinned, “A lot of head banging and feet stamping.”

“So how long have you been with this Paul guy?” he asked, his voice sounded disinterested, but there was something far too direct about his words.

“I’ve known Paul since I was a kid. I moved over here with him and his boyfriend James.” I explained.

“Oh. That’s… cool.” He said, his voice brightening with each word.

“We’re actually playing for some studio executives later this week. Hoping to get a record deal.” I added, I wasn’t trying to brag but I did want to impress him. He was an actor that did stunt work, that was pretty impressive and I wanted to put myself on par with him.

“Here you are.” Interrupted a familiar voice, I thought it was the cashier.

I heard the sound of a plate clattering down on the table in front of me and the smell of cooked chicken wafted up my nose, making my mouth water, “Oh yum!”

“Would you mind if I got a photo?” asked the girl.

“Of course not.” Said Kit.

I didn’t even look up as I heard him get out of his chair, I was too focused on my meal. Sliding my hand along the table I quickly found the plate and the chips. Pinching one between my fingers I popped it in my mouth and smiled, the sweet potato crunch was amazing. I immediately grabbed another one.

“Sorry about that.” Said Kit as I heard him sit back down.

“About what?” I asked through a mouthful of chips.

“Having to leave you like that.” He explained.

“I didn’t even notice.” I said honestly, “Besides, she wanted a photo. It was nice of you to give her one.”

“It’s nice of you to be so understanding.” He stated.

“Hey to be fair, if I had a chance to meet Justin Hawkins I’d be ditching you.” I said pointedly.

“Who’s that?”

“Lead singer of The Darkness. Honestly, I’m going to have to educate you musically.” I said as I turned to look at my burger, smiling to myself I grabbed it off the plate before I suddenly realized something, “Don’t watch me eat. I won’t look like a lady.”

He laughed as I bit into the burger.

The explosion of taste in my mouth was amazing as I chewed through the chicken, getting a slight hint of avocado. The relish and herbed mayo added to the bland taste of the bread and I closed my eyes in bliss.

“Amazing.” I told him.

“Yeah mines pretty good too.”

We sat talking over lunch about inconsequential things, music, movies and other normal things when suddenly my phone began to ring, “Excuse me.” I said as I reached down in the pocket of my jacket and grabbed it, “Hello?” I asked.

“Hey Gerty. How’s it going?” asked Paul happily.

“I’m good thanks Paul how are you?” I asked politely.

“I’m well.” He said before there was a shuffled and I heard James’s voice.

“Ask her about the guy. Was it a date?” he hissed.

“Hello James.” I said happily.

“Yes, hello Gertrude, tell me, did you on a date?” he asked.

“I still don’t know.” I said simply.

“What? How can you not know?” he demanded.

“Well it hasn’t finished yet, whatever it is.” I said simply.

“What? Your still with him?” asked Paul.

“Yes.”

“Well ask him if it’s a date!” commanded James.

“He’s sitting right here, why don’t you ask him.” I challenged.

I should have known better than to challenge James to something. I’d said it because I thought it would make him drop the subject, but in true James fashion, he didn’t let that deter him at all, “Fine, I will!” he said stubbornly, “Hand him the phone.”

Blinking in shock and unsure of what else to do I took the phone away from my ear and held it out to Kit, “Paul and James want to talk to you.” I said simply.

There was a tense moment when I wished I could have seen his face to see how he felt about the whole thing, instead I had to read into the long silence, hesitation? Reluctance? Confusion perhaps?

Eventually I felt him take the phone from my hand, “Hello?” he asked and I thought his voice had become deeper.

“Yes hello there, my name is James, I’m a friend of Gerty’s.” I heard James say, “Tell me, are the two of you on a date? There’s been some debate about it and I’d like to get to the bottom of things.”

I resisted the urge to giggle.

“Ah, I don’t know.” Said Kit, seeming unsure, “What does Gerty say?”

“Well she’s been entirely unhelpful about the whole thing. I think she wants it to be a date but she won’t say exactly. She’s waiting for you.” James said.

“Really?” asked Kit and I could feel his eyes on me, “Well to be honest, I was wanting it to be a date too, but didn’t know what she wanted.” He said simply.

At that I smiled and leaned back in my chair with the word ‘date’ repeating in my head excitedly.

“So you both want it to be a date. Ergo it’s a date. Thanks Mr. Kit I’ll be sure to pass the news on to Gerty.” Said James happily.

“I think she already knows.” He said and I could hear a smile in his voice.

“Oh yes, she would. Alright, well it was lovely meeting you. Hopefully I can interrupt you date again sometime.” Said James simply, “Please pass the phone back to Gerty.”

“Its for you.” Said Kit placing the phone in my outstretched hand.

“Hello James.” I said as I pressed the phone back to my ear.

“Yes, hello. Well there you go, bitch, you’re on a date. Glad I dressed you now?” he demanded.

“Extremely grateful.” I said sarcastically, “now, I’d love to stay and chat but I’m on a date you see, so I have to go.”

“Oh yes, I look forward to hearing all about it when you get home.” He said happily.

“I’m sure you are.” I said knowingly, “Got to go now, bye.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and placed it back in my pocket with a sigh, “Sorry about him. He’s very… forward.” I said, choosing the words with care.

“I don’t mind, at least we got one thing clear.” He said.

“Which is?”

“We’re on a date.” He said, I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Yes it appears we are.” I said as I grabbed my hamburger once again and took a bite feeling rather happy with myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there it is. The lies have officially been told. We are down the rabbit hole; lets see what happens.


	3. Chapter 3

“So how did you get a name like Gertrude?” asked Kit when we met next on the Thursday at Super Smoothie.

“It was my grandmothers name.” I told him as I sipped my smoothie, I had decided to add kale to my super smoothie, “You know I must say, the kale doesn’t add much to taste but I feel healthier for eating it.”

“It looks like blended up snot.” He said pointedly.

“But it tastes like banana and coconut.” I smiled, “How did you get a nickname like Kit anyway? Why aren’t you called Chris?”

“I’ve always just been called Kit. I didn’t realize my name was actually Christopher until I was like eleven.” He explained.

“Wow, that must have sent you into a terrible identity crisis.” I commented.

“Oh yes, it was dreadful. I’m still in therapy for it.” He said seriously.

I laughed.

“So, are you free at some point this week?” he asked suddenly.

“I should be at some point. Why?”

“Well I’d like to take you out on a proper date.” He said simply, “Not that site seeing and smoothies isn’t fun but I’d like to do something that actually has a bit of romance to it.”

“Why?” I asked curiously, “What’s wrong with snot smoothies and tourist attractions?”

“It doesn’t give me much chance to impress you.” He said diplomatically.

“What if I want to impress you?” I asked curiously.

 “Well I suppose you would have to ask me out on a date then.” He said slowly, as if he was only just coming to the realization himself.

“Alright,” I said, clearing my throat I leaned forward, “Mr. Kit,” I began, using the nickname I had coined for him, “What are you doing Sunday night?”

“Funnily enough, I’m free. Its the one night off I have every week.” He said.

“Really?” I asked, feigning shock, “What a terrible coincidence. I happen to be free Sunday night as well.” I smiled, “Why don’t we get together and do something in a date-like capacity.”

“That sounds good.” He said, shifting in his chair, “What should we do?”

“I don’t know yet. You’ll have to give me time to come up with something.” I said seriously.

“You asked me on a date and you don’t know what we’re going to do?” he asked, sounding amused.

“I didn’t think you’d say yes.” I said pointedly.

He laughed.

…

“What do you mean you don’t know what you’re going to do?” demanded James as stood in the boxing ring, punching Paul’s gloved hands.

“Well, it caught me off guard.” I explained.

“And to be fair, the two of us have had a lot on our minds these past couple of days.” Said Paul, grunting each time I hit his hand.  

That was true; Paul and myself had performed in front of some studio executives earlier in the week and we were yet to hear back from them. I thought the two of us had performed quite well, but the representatives hadn’t said much, simply stating, “we’ll get back to you.” Before they dismissed us.

“You could go to the movies? I hear there are some advanced screenings of Captain America.” Suggested James from the sidelines.

“That could work.” I mused as I punched Paul’s hands in quick succession, “I did want to do something a little more exciting.”

“You could try going rock climbing.” Suggested Paul as he smacked the side of my head with his gloved hand, “Keep your guard up.” He reminded me.

I gritted my teeth angrily as I readied my stance, if he wanted to fight I was going to be ready.

“Sure, rock climbing could be fun. Though we’re supposed to be going at night.” I said as I jabbed my hand forward, colliding with what felt like Paul’s shoulder. I then stepped forward, grabbing his shoulder I pulled him down and thrust my knee up, which he blocked with his hands before he shoved me back.

“What were you thinking?” grunted Paul, which meant he was about to lunge forward.

I ducked and I felt his hand slide just past my head, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it down into a wrist lock.

“Ow!” he complained as his chest pressed into my back.

Taking advantage of his unsteady stance I threw my weight forward and threw him down onto the ground, pinning his wrist against my chest I pushed at it until he cried out in pain and quickly tapped the matt in three quick taps, signalling he yielded.

I immediately released him, lying on the ground I panted slightly.

“Jesus Christ, how do you move so fast?” panted Paul, “It’s like you can see me coming from a mile away.”

“You and every other guy I know always make a sound before you try and hit me.” I explained.

“I didn’t hear anything.” Said James.

“You’re hearing isn’t as good as mine.” I told him as I sat up slightly.

“Hey Gerty!” called a voice.

I looked up in the direction of the voice, that I recognized belonged to one of the trainers of the gym, Willis, “Yessum?”

“I got to ask you a question.” He said as his voice grew louder, meaning he was coming closer.

Standing up, I walked the few paces over to the edge of the ring and leaned on the ropes. I’d barely stood there for a moment before I felt the ropes dip, signalling that Willis was leaning against the ropes.

“You know how your blind right,” he began.

“Shit I’m blind? Really?” I asked turning to look in James’s direction, “Why did no one tell me?”

He laughed.

“Well we’ve just hired some new trainers and me and the boys were thinking it would be funny if we played a prank on them and we need your help.” Said Willis.

“Sure, love to help out on a good prank. What do you need?” I asked as I swung a little on the ropes.

“Well, you know how your quite good and knocking guys on their asses?” he asked.

“As Paul is so artfully demonstrating to you now.” I smiled.

“Shut up!” he called.

“Well we were thinking that it would be funny if you walked around the gym, being all blind and stuff and then got one of the new trainers to spar with you. They’d be thinking you’re some weak little blind girl then after you let them get a few hits in you can kick their asses!” he said happily.

I laughed at the very thought, I could just see it now; the new trainers would assume I was a weakling, being blind, but the moment they got in the ring with me they would learn otherwise. It would be quite amusing.

“That sounds hilarious!” said James, “Can we watch?”

“Well we can’t have you giving the joke away, but I thought we could film it.” He explained.

“Yeah, I’m in. When?” I asked curiously.

“Tomorrow?”

“It’ll have to be in the morning. I have to play a show at two-thirty.” I told him.

“Done.”

…

The next day I stumbled into the gym as if I had never been there before and didn’t know the place like the back of my hand.

In keeping with the joke, I stumbled around, using my cane before I asked one of the trainers to point me in the direction of the boxing bag. Helpfully they did were I proceeded to punch pathetically at it.

“Try tucking your thumb in.” suggested one of the new trainers helpfully.

I did as he instructed and hit the bag again before I shook my hand out in mock pain, “Ow.” I complained.

“Do you need me to hold the bag?” asked the trainer.

“I can’t even see it.” I said simply.

“Oh, right.” He said uncomfortably.

“Do you think you could spa with me?” I asked hopefully, putting my best acting to the test.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” He said trailing off.

“Why not?”

“Well, I don’t want to hurt you.” He said.

I heard someone in the gym laugh and then try to disguise it with a cough, I hope that hadn’t given the game away.

“I don’t think you’ll hurt me. It’ll be safe. Come on. I want to learn how to defend myself.” I explained.

The trainer seemed reluctant but eventually agreed.

After he helped me put my gloves on, I stumbled into the ring, adding to the charade and let him show me how to stand.

“Ok, so much me here.” He said, showing me where his chest was.

I thrust my hand forward feebly and he easily dodged it, knocking my hand out of the way he tapped my shoulder with his glove. 

“Come on, you have to hit harder than that.” He encouraged.

I attempted to hit him again, this time stumbling forward as I did. He once again dodged me and hit the back of my head, showing he had moved around me, I whirled around and sighed dejectedly.

“Come on, hit me once.” He said as he grabbed my hand and showed me where his face was.

He then proceeded to shove my shoulders, causing me to stumble back, “You don’t have a good stance. You have to have a good stance.” He instructed.

“Ok,” I said, attempting to widen my stance to show him I was taking his advice.

He then put his leg over mine and tripped me up, causing me to fall flat on my back. I laid there for a minute in shock; I had said I wanted to learn how to fight, but this guy was just trying to embarrass me. He wasn’t showing me how to punch of kick, he was just taking the micky.

“Come on. You want to learn how to fight?” he demanded, “Get up. Don’t stay on the ground.” He said, “It’s weak.”

Now I was done pretending.

Standing up, I took a proper fighting stance, “Alright, let’s go again.” I encouraged.

I heard him shuffle forward and he let loose a quick breath meaning he was going to hit me. Blocking his punch, I pushed his hand to the side, exposing his face before I snapped my fist forward. I thought I was hitting his face, but I hit his throat instead and he let out a strangled choked sound as he shuffled backwards.

I kept at my stance, “Are you ok?” I asked, the condescension clear in my voice.

“Yeah.” He coughed, “let’s go again.”

Without warning he made the strange little huffing sound again and I blocked another punch, I then heard the scraping sound of skin against the matt which meant he was using his feet. I quickly caught his leg as he came up to my side before I swept my leg forward and knocked him on the ground.

Still holding his leg, I spun around so I had his ankle in a lock, twisting it to the side. He cried out in pain but I twisted again, “Don’t just lay there, it’s weak.” I said, quoting his words back to him.

I felt his weight shift as he tried to sit up, but I thrust my legs forward, pinning him down as I continued to twist at his ankle.

“Ow! Stop! Stop! Stop!” he cried.

Releasing his ankle I stood up and smiled, I could hear him panting, his laboured breaths coming out short and sharp. I took that to mean that the fight was over, “Just so you know, this whole thing was filmed.” I said.

“What?” he demanded.

It was then I heard Wallis laugh, “There’s a camera right over there.” He crowed.

“Oh my god!” groaned the new trainer, “This was all a set up?” he asked.

“Yes.” I smiled.

“Are you even blind?” he demanded.

“Yes I am.”

“Miss Tinkett has quite a reputation for knocking guys on their asses. We thought it would be funny to see what she did to you.” Said Wallis as he came over to the ring.

“Oh god!’ groaned the new trainer again.

I laughed. Not only had it been recorded that he was a complete dick to me, but it had also been recorded of me kicking his ass, “Hey Wallis, send me a copy of that video.” I smiled.

“Absolutely.” He promised.

…

I was still feeling pretty happy when I met Kit that afternoon at Smoothie Supreme.

“I noticed you got kale in your smoothie today. Is my health kick rubbing off on you?” I smiled as he pulled out a chair for me.

“It still looks like snot. But it doesn’t taste bad.” He said.

Smiling smugly, I sat down and took a sip of my smoothie.

“So have you decided what we’re doing tomorrow night?” he asked conversationally, “Pressure is on.”

“We’re going to do something I’ve always wanted to try.” I told him in a matter of fact tone.

“And what is that?”

“Bowling.”

“Bowling?”

“Yeah. I’ve never done it. I want to give it a go.” I said simply.

“I’ve done it before. I’m terrible.” He told me.

“I bet your still better than me.” I commented.

“Not by much. And I thought you were supposed to be trying to impress me on this date.” He reminded me.

“Oh don’t worry. I plan to impress you with how many nachos I can eat.” I grinned.

“That does sound quite impressive.” He laughed.

I giggled in response just as my phone pinged. Curious I grabbed my phone and pressed the button to have Siri read me the message.

“Hey Gerty, here is the video. Thanks for all your help. It was hilarious.” Said Siri.

“What video?” asked Kit.

“Oh, this morning I helped the owners of the gym play a prank on some of their new trainers.” I explained, “There’s a video if you want to watch.”

I handed him my phone and heard the muffled audio of me stumbling around the gym and asking the trainer if he wanted to spa with me. I heard the trainers taunting voice as we stepped into the ring together and I heard the almighty ‘whack’ of me hitting the mat.

“Ow. That look like it hurt.” Said Kit.

“Keep watching.” I said, as I sipped my smoothie smugly.

‘Alright, lets go again.’ I heard me say in the video.

I knew I would not get a chance to impress Kit on our date, I knew I would be absolutely terrible at bowling but I wanted to give it a try anyway. I was happy that I could show him the video, in which I was impressive.

“Holy shit!” said Kit under his breath, a light chuckle sounding in his voice.

I simply sipped my smoothie in silence as he watched the end of the video.

“Well certainly showed him.” He said as he placed my phone on the table.

“Are you impressed?” I asked.

“A little bit. Little bit frightened as well.” He replied.

I simply laughed.

…

Sunday passed with unnatural slowness. I attributed that to the fact that I was so excited to go on my date with Kit.

I let James choose my outfit. He had a knack for choosing outfits that were my unique style but ones I would never have thought of. I wore Etro Sleeveless Silk Blouse and a Campbells denim jacket. As well as Genetic Los Angeles Gia Distressed Boyfriend Jean with Vans Old Skool Lite Sneakers.

I left my hair out and grabbing my jacket and cane, I headed out the door.

Getting public transport was far easier than people might think. They had the helpful lines and dots on the ground for blind people to feel with their canes and the helpful computer voice told me where each stop was. I actually felt quite independent when I used public transport, even though I did it nearly daily. It was a little task that I could accomplish by myself with no help and it made me feel independent in my otherwise crowded life.

Walking down the street I counted how many meters it was from the train station to the bowling alley on the computer. So I knew, after I’d taken my one-hundredth and twenty-seventh step that I was near it. And from the sounds I could hear, of something rolling along wood and knocking something down, I assumed I was at the right place.

I leaned against the wall and waited, impatiently, for Kit to arrive and was greeted not even a few minutes later by his familiar voice, “Hey.” He said.

“Hi.” I smiled as I pushed myself off the wall and opened my arms, signalling that I wanted a hug.

He didn’t hesitate to step forward and wrap his arms around me.

It was interesting, to feel his body pressing into mine. He was a lot shorter than I imagined but he still had quite a solid frame which was nice. I took a deep breath in and smelled his signature scent of tobacco, some sort of hair gel and his musky cologne.

“You look good.” He told me as he pulled away.

“Thank you. You smell good.” I replied.

He laughed, “Shall we head in?” he asked as he took my hand and placed it on his arm.

“Yes, lets.” I smiled.

Heading inside, the sound of bowling balls being thrown became louder, as did the pinging of video games. The smell of cooking oil immediately hit my nostrils and as we approached what I assumed was the front counter, I thought I smelt shoe polish.

“Lane for two?” asked the man behind the counter.

“Yes please.” I smiled.

We quickly gave the man our shoe sized and he handed over two pairs before Kit lead me over to our lane and I sat down. Pulling off my shoes, I felt the edge of the bowling shoes to determine which shoe went on which foot. Finding the right one, I slipped it on, then the left, then I sighed; laces.

I could in fact do up shoe laces if I had to, but I preferred not to as it was an endlessly frustrating task.

“Here, let me.” Said Kit, I suddenly felt him wrap his fingers around my foot and pull it up off the ground slightly.

I sat with both my hands on the edge of my seat as he tied up one shoe and then the other. I liked the way his fingers brushed against the skin of my exposed ankles. It sent a thrill straight up my legs and into my stomach. His touch was surprisingly tender.

“Right, all done.” He finally declared.

“Great. Shall we bowl?” I asked as I stood up, the shoes were surprisingly heavy on my feet, they offered no arch support and were extremely flat footed.

“What kind of ball do you want?” he asked.

“Let’s go medium sized.” I guessed.

Holding out my hands I felt a cold and smooth weight suddenly placed in them.

“Wow.” I said marvelling at the weight, “Its heavy.”

“Do you want a lighter one?” he asked.

“No I’ll give this one a try.” I said as I ran my hand over the ball, looking for the finer holes. I eventually found them and moved the holes to the top, placing my fingers in the holes, I tried to grip the bowl, but it nearly slipped from my fingers.

“Whoa, you alright?” asked Kit, stepping forward, his hands covered mine over the ball to help keep it up.

“Yeah, just can’t get a grip on this stupid thing.” I said.

“Let me show you.” He said, gently grabbing my wrist, he pulled my hand away from the ball before taking one of my fingers and gently placing it in one of the holes, “You need to hold it like a rock symbol.”

But I wasn’t listening, I was too caught up in the way his fingers skimmed over mine, holding them delicately between his own. His fingers skimmed over my knuckles and I lost myself in the feeling of his fingertips trailing over the skin of my hand as he showed me how to hold the ball.

“Alright, you ready?” he asked.

“Yep. Let’s go.” I smiled.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“What do you mean nothing happened? How can nothing have happened?! You got home at midnight!” exclaimed James as we sat having breakfast the next morning.

“I mean nothing happened. He showed me how to bowl, I ate nachos. We talked, then we went home.” I explained with a shrug.

“Urgh, you disappoint me Gerty.” He said and I heard him stab at his cereal in annoyance.

I smiled as I fed a piece of fruit to Sir Hops-A-Lot.

By James’s standards nothing had really happened on my date with Kit, but I certainly didn’t see it that way and I remembered the previous night with fondness.

…

Kit had shown me how to bowl, standing behind me, his arm had stretched along mine, his entire body had enclosed around me and I’d been a little too distracted by the feel of his warm breath on my neck to pay attention to how to throw the ball correctly.

His body seemed to perfectly fit around mine and I finally understood the meaning of being wrapped up in someone as with his arm along my arm, hand cupping mine and his chest pressing into my back, I felt completely enclosed by his presence.

After the two of us played a game of bowling, which I lost, we ordered some nachos to share. But for some reason I wasn’t getting any salsa or cheese, just the tortilla chips. Kit must have seen my frustration and said, “Here, I just moved some topping onto your chip.”

“Thanks.” I smiled as I placed the cheese and salsa covered chip into my mouth, enjoying the cheese and tomato flavour, “See, this is the kind of support I need in a relationship.”

The words had left my mouth before I could stop them. I hadn’t meant to imply that the two of us were in a relationship, it was way too early to be considering that. Fear gripped my stomach as I realized what a colossal mistake I had made that could effectively scare him off before anything had really begun. But Kit took it in his stride.

“I need you to take care of getting rid of the spiders. Like I’m happy to make sure you get extra pizza toppings if you deal with the spiders.” He said seriously.

“Deal.” I smiled, “Though you have to at least try for the little ones.” I teased.

“Deal.” He laughed.

And that had been how the night progressed. We were just two people eating junk food, talking and bowling. It was fun.

I liked the way the conversation flowed so easily between us and at times I could even pretend that I was just hanging out with Paul or James, but then he would touch me; his leg would press into mine when he sat down or his hand would brush mine when he passed me the ball. I would feel those familiar and strong sparks of attraction that would cause butterflies to flap in my stomach and a stupid smile to come unbidden to my face.

We stayed so long playing game after game of bowling and talking that eventually the manager of the place had to tell us that he was closing and that we needed to leave, signalling the end of the night.

I held his arm walking out the door, the same as I always did, then once we were outside he turned to me and pulled me in for a bone crushing hug.

I was just able to sit my chin on his shoulder as I wrapped my arms around his middle and held him to me. Over the past couple of hours, I had grown used to the shoe polish and junk food smell, but now that we were outside, I once again breathed in his signature scent and couldn’t help but smile; I liked his smell. It was uniquely him.

I also liked the feeling of his arms being wrapped around my body, feeling completely surrounded by him, it was a feeling that made my pulse quicken and butterflies flap in my stomach, but also made me feel calm. It felt… right.

After that we’d said goodnight and headed off in our separate directions.

…

“When are you going to see each other again?” asked Paul as he set his coffee cup down on the table.

“Tomorrow. We’re gonna do dinner before our shows.” I explained as I ran my hand along my rabbits back, rubbing his ears in the process.

“So are you like a couple?” asked Paul.

“I think we’re still just in the dating phase. Though I mentioned the word relationship last night and he didn’t freak out. Probably a good sign.” I shrugged.

“Definitely a good sign. When do we get to meet him?” asked James excitedly, “He’s got a nice voice. Though something about it sounds familiar.” He mused.

I opened my mouth to reply but a sudden ringing sound interrupted me, “Paul, is that your phone?” I asked.

“How on earth did you hear that? How did you even know it’s mine? I can barely remember my own ring tone let alone anyone else’s.” He marvelled.

I heard his chair shift and the padding of his feet on the carpet as he rushed down the hallway, “Guys!” he called, “It’s the studio!”

“Answer it!” we called together.

“Hello?” I heard Paul’s muffled voice.

“Do you think its them rejecting us?” I asked James.

“Why would the bother calling to reject you?” asked James.

He had a point and I waited with baited breath to hear the news, the only pre warning I got was a muffled, “yes, thank you.” From Paul before I heard him hang up the phone.

“So? What’s the word?” I demanded as soon as I heard Paul walk back into the room.

“Well, they’re not signing us for a record deal.” He explained.

 I sighed in disappointment; that was a bummer.

“They want to test us out first. So they want to record a song and shoot a video for it. They want to see how it does on youtube. If people are interested, they’ll sign us. If not, we have a cool music video to show people.” He explained.

I blinked in shock, “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. That’s what they said. They want to shoot it early next month.” He said happily.

“Oh my god that’s amazing!” said James happily.

I squeaked in excitement; we were one step closer to getting a record deal, to getting something we had worked so hard for!

Strangely enough there was only one person I wanted to tell. I could have easily texted him, but I wanted to hear the excitement in his voice, I wanted to tell him in person. I suddenly found myself far more excited for tomorrow than I already was.

…

Kit had asked me to meet him at a little Indian restaurant called ‘Dishoom’. I looked up the menu online as I didn’t want to have to ask Kit to read it for me.

I’d decided on the ‘Gunpowder Potatoes’ which was described as ‘potatoes with brown skins, smoky-grilled, broken apart, tossed with butter, crushed aromatic seeds and green herbs.’. And because I doubted that would be enough, I decided to also get a Sheekh Lamb Kabab.

Kit was waiting out from of the restaurant for me, immediately pulling me in for a hug the moment I was close enough.

His signature scent was mixed with the dull scent of Indian food, wafting outside from the restaurant and… something else. The smell of rust.

“Ow.” He complained as he pulled away from me.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Nothing. I hurt my hand.” He explained, the pain clear in his voice.

“What did you do?”

“Cut my hand on a broken piece of glass. It’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.” I said, concern lacing my voice, “Did you get it looked at?”

“Nah, I didn’t have the time.” He said simply, “Besides, I wanted to see you.”

“Well I’m flattered,” I began, more so than I would care to admit, “but we should probably get it looked at. If you cut it on broken glass, there could be some stuck in there.” I said pointedly as I wrapped my fingers around his arm.

“What about dinner?” he asked.

“We can get something afterwards. Come on. Ormond Hospital is just up the road. We’ll get a taxi.” I told him.

“Seriously, its nothing.” He dismissed.

“Good, then we’ll be in and out of there in no time.” I replied simply.

“You’re not going to let this go are you?”

“Nope.”

He sighed deeply and we headed to the hospital. I walked in with him to emergency and the moment the nurse saw his hand she made a strange sound, “Oh, that looks bad. Take a seat love, we’ll get to you quickly.”

“See?” I told him smugly as he showed me over to the seats, “Told you that you need to come in.”

“I’ve had worse stuff than this.” He explained.

“Oh you, big tough man.” I teased, “It’s not an amputated thumb so you think it doesn’t matter?”

“Pretty much.”

I shook my head, “You’re an idiot.”

Eventually the nurse came out and showed us into an examination room. Kit laid down on the bed and I stood by his side. Running my hand down his arm, I placed my hand over his on the bed. Even though it was only a cut hand, I wanted him to know that I was there for him. I supported him.

Hospital’s sucked and no one should have to be in one alone.

Eventually I heard the padding of shoes on the floor as someone approached, “Hello there, the nurses tell me you’ve cut your hand?” asked a man, I assumed he was the doctor.

“Yeah, On a broken bottle.” Kit explained.

“Oh dear. We’ll have to have a look to make sure there’s no glass in there.” He said immediately.

“See?” I smiled smugly.

I could practically hear Kit rolling his eyes as the doctor inspected his hand.

“Well, this is quite a nasty cut.” Said the Doctor, “You’re gonna have to keep it bandaged up for a week or two.”

“What sort of movement am I looking at?” asked Kit, “I’ve got a show to do.”

“Oh you’ll be able to move it fine. Just keep it bandaged up. Though the cut is quite deep. You’re going to need stiches.” Said the Doctor and I heard the sound of his clothes rustling, meaning he was standing up.

“See? Aren’t you glad I brought you in here now?” I asked simply.

“No.” mumbled Kit grumpily.

I noticed his hand had become quite tense in mine and he had gone quiet, I began to worry, “Kit? What’s the matter?” I asked.

“I just don’t see why I need an injection. He can just stitch me up.” He said, his voice tight.

I resisted the urge to smile, “Don’t tell me your afraid of a tiny little needle.”

“It doesn’t look that tiny” he retorted.

“Think about something else. Besides the needle.” I advised.

“Like what?” he demanded.

I opened my mouth to reply, but the doctor interrupted us, “Alright, this could sting a little.”

I felt Kit’s hand tense beneath mine as he sucked in a quick breath.

Suddenly an idea popped into my head; I knew how to distract him.

Running my hand up his arm and up his shoulder, I quickly found his jaw, the facial hair tickling my fingertips. I pressed down to get him to turn his face towards mine before I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.

He seemed shocked at first, his lips like stone against mine and I worried for a moment that I had made a terrible mistake in kissing him. Maybe it was too soon? Maybe he didn’t like me the way I liked him?

I was just beginning to contemplate ways to play off the kiss as something between friends as I pulled away. But then he edged his face forward and captured my lips with his. Smiling against his lips, I kissed him back for a moment, enjoying the excited thrill that went through me.

“Done.” Called the Doctor and I pulled away.

Kit was silent and I heard him release a quick, almost shocked, breath.

I simply smiled, “That wasn’t so bad was it?”

He didn’t respond.

I took that as a ‘yes’.

…

We ended up going to a nearby McDonalds for dinner.

“Do you find it ironic that we met over a food that was super healthy but since then we’ve only ever eaten junk food around each other?” asked Kit as we sat outside eating our respective meals.

I had gotten a Happy Meal and was currently fiddling with the little toy that came with it, “You say that like it’s a bad thing?” I asked.

“It’s not. But I have to eat an entire pizza eight times a week for my show I’m a little self-conscious.” He explained.

“You know I can’t see you right?” I asked pointedly, “You could be completely obese and I wouldn’t know. Or care for that matter.” I said as I stood up and made my way around the table.

“I know. It’s one of the things I like about you, I know you like me for who I am. Not because of what I am.” He explained.

“What do you mean ‘what’ you are? Are you a superhero?” I asked curiously.

“Just a figure of speech.” He said quickly, “Where are you going by the way?”

“I want to go and play on the play equipment. How far am I from a ladder leading to a slide?” I asked as I walked with my hands out in front of me.

“About three steps forward and one to you right.” He told me.

Taking his direction, my hand bumped into a cool metal pole that I quickly deduced was a ladder. Climbing up it, I found myself on a small platform, “Where’s the slide?” I called.

“To your right.” He called back.

Feeling around with my hands, I quickly located the edge of the slide and readied myself to slide down it.

“Are you seriously going to slide down that thing?” he called, I could tell he was closer to me as his voice was louder.

“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked.

“Because its designed to entertain five year olds.” He said pointedly.

“Who says it can’t entertain twenty-two year olds?” I challenged before I scooted forward and slid down the slide, laughing as I did.

“You’re so immature.” He said, sounding amused.

“Help me up.” I said as I sat at the bottom of the slide, thrusting my hands into the air, ready for him to grab.

A moment later, I felt his hands slide into mine and pull me upright. We were closer than I expected as his breath wafted into my face, I could smell his cheese burger on his breath as well as tobacco. Instead of repulsing me, it actually made me smile. I liked how close we were.

He had a point about me not being able to see him. Despite going on a totally of three dates now and having kissed him, I had no idea what he looked like. Not that looks mattered to me, for obvious reasons. But I did want to get a sense of who I was falling for.

Taking my hands from his, I ran them up both his arms, feeling every dip and curve of his muscles and over his broad shoulders.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Enjoying the view.” I explained with a nervous smile, “May I?” I asked as I rested my hands on his shoulders.

“What are you going to do?” he asked curiously.

“Use my hands to see deeper than any eyes ever could.” I grinned.

“Is everything a joke to you?” he asked, turning to face me a little more.

“Funny things are.” I told him as I let my fingers brush the side of his neck.

Taking a deep breath, I ran my fingers tips up the side of his neck and I felt him swallow as I reached his jawline, feeling the curl of facial hair there. 

“You’re not as tall as I thought you were.” I commented.

“Still taller than you.” He told me.

I smiled as I let my fingers slide up his cheeks, before I ran them over his ears, feeling the curly hair that was there. I ran my fingers through it until the ends, surprised at its length, “Your hairs long.” I commented.

“Yeah.” He said, seeming distracted.

“What colour is it?”

“Brown.”

“Really? I thought it might be red.” I mused.

He didn’t reply to that. I couldn’t be certain but I thought he had somehow shifted closer towards me as I could feel his chest pressing into mine when before there had been space.

Cupping his face once more, I ran my thumbs over his cheeks to the ridge of his nose, sliding my other finger tips up the side of his face to get a sense of what shape his head was. I slid my thumbs along either side of his nose and felt the lightest touch of facial hair on the top of his lips, meaning he had a moustache.

“I normally don’t like guys with beards.” I mused as I glided my thumbs lightly over his lips, I felt the part under my fingers as he sucked in a breath.

I now had a clearer image of who was in front of me; a man who was around five foot seven, maybe eight. He had long curly brown hair, making me think he might have some sort of ethnic background, I guessed Italian. Maybe Spanish… Which meant he probably had dark eyes as well.

His facial hair was not thick, but I imagined it would be dark, giving him a squarish jawline. His lips however were the most interesting part; they were soft, the bottom lip far fuller than a normal man. His top lip however curved up into two perfect peaks.

“You’ve got incredibly kissable lips.” I told him.

“Really?” he asked, sounding pleased, “Want to test out that theory?” he asked as his hands came to rest on my lower back.

“I already did. I wasn’t impressed.” I grinned as I joined my hands around the back of his neck.

“I was having a needle stuck into my hand. I was a little distracted.” He sighed.

“Excuses, excuses.” I teased.

He chuckled and I felt his breath hit my face, meaning he had edged closer. The tip of his nose touched mine and that was the only warning I got before he kissed me.

His lips were soft, moulding to mine perfectly. His tongue slipped into my mouth, deepening the kiss. I clung to him for a moment as a thrill shot through me, he was kissing me and demonstrating quite a lot of technique.

His grip around my back tightened as he pulled me closer and I edged up on the tips of my toes to deepen the kiss.

A sudden beeping interrupted us and I broke away, but he wasn’t having it. He held me close and refused to let me move more than a centimetre away, “Damn.” I said regretfully, “That’s my alarm.” I explained.

“So?” he whispered huskily.

His voice sent a shiver down my spine and made my toes curl in anticipation. I desperately wanted to continue our little make-out session but the beeping of my alarm was telling me that I had somewhere to be, “We have to go to work.”

He sighed deeply, seeming regretful, “Fine.”

Untangling ourselves I was surprised when he took my hand and immediately placed it on his arm, as if he didn’t want me to be very far from his side. I couldn’t help but smile as we headed out of McDonalds and down the road towards our respective theatres.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, we heard back from the record company.” I said suddenly as we walked.

“Oh yeah? What did they say?” he asked curiously.

“They want to shoot a music video with us to see if there’s any interest in our kind of music and depending on how that does, depends of whether or not we get a deal.” I explained.

“That’s great news!” he said, sounding genuinely pleased for me, “When do you shoot?”

“Sometime next month.” I replied.

“God, can you believe it’s nearly May already?”

“Yeah I know. Where is the year going?”

“Alright, we’re on strand street.” Said Kit, “I’ve got to head off in the other direction.”

“Ok.” I sighed.

I felt his hand come up to cup my face before he pulled me in for another kiss. I ran my hands through his hair which was surprisingly silky, sliding between my fingers with ease.

I wasn’t sure how long we stayed in such a passionate embrace, but I knew we needed to stop if I was going to make it to the theatre on time.

“I. Have. To. Go.” I said between kisses.

“Uh huh.” He agreed as he pulled me closer.

I smiled against his lips as I pulled away, the only part of us that was connected was out lips, “Leaving. Now.” I told him.

“Yep. Goodbye.” He said as he continued to kiss me.

I laughed as I pulled away, “Bye.” I laughed.

He released all of me but my hand, “Bye.” He said, giving my hand a squeeze.

I smiled like a silly school girl as I pulled my hand from his and walked away. The smile didn’t leave my face for the rest of the night.


	5. Chapter 5

After I stepped out of the shower at the gym, I checked my phone; I had one new message from Kit.

“Last night was fun. Sorry we didn’t get to have a proper dinner. Did you want to try again Sunday night?” said Siri.

I smiled as I held the phone up to my lips, ready to reply, “Sunday could be good. Still meeting tomorrow for Super Smoothie?” I asked and Siri converted it into a text.

I’d only just finished towel drying my hair when his reply came through, grabbing my phone I quickly got Siri to read the message out to me; “Always.”

We did indeed meet up for our routine smoothie between shows on Thursday. The same again on Saturday and both times, in what was quickly becoming our traditional goodbye, to kiss each other in between saying our goodbyes.

I liked how playful and fun things were between us. I liked how easy going they were. I didn’t need to constantly wonder about where I stood with him, I was comfortable just letting things progress at their own pace.

For now, I was just enjoying spending time with him and the new exciting element of our physical affection. I liked the reactions he teased out in me. I liked how my body responded to his. But most of all, I just liked how fun things were between us.

We sat talking for most of our break at Super Smoothies, joking with one another. It was fun and I found myself looking forward to our time together more so than I would have thought possible.

…

“So are we ever going to meet this guy?” asked James as he once again proceeded to tear my closet apart looking through my clothes.

“I hope so.” I said simply as Sir Hops-A-Lot sat on my chest as I laid down on my bed. I was loving the fluffy feel of his fur on the exposed part of my chest.

“Sounds like you really like him.” He observed.

“I do.” I replied immediately.

“So you’re wanting things to become official?” he asked.

“I’m sort of letting him set the pace. I get the feeling he’s been hurt in the past and I don’t want to pressure him into anything.” I explained.

“You’re so understanding. If I were you, I’d be wanting some commitment. I mean, I made Paul say that we were a couple before I even kissed him.” He revealed.

“I’m not worried about it too much.” I shrugged as I played with my rabbit’s ears.

“Really? You’re not worried he might be seeing other girls?” he asked.

I blinked, “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Well you said you two find it hard to keep your hands off each other. Sounds like he probably has a big sexual appetite, if you get my drift.” He said suggestively.

Of course I got what he was meaning, he had just said it.

The thought of Kit seeing other women perturbed me. I hadn’t considered it before and now I was suddenly nervous. Especially now that things were getting physical between us. I didn’t mind if he didn’t want to be serious with me, become an official couple or whatever. But I didn’t like the thought of him being with other girls.

“Ok, I’m thinking a dress tonight.” Mused James, “The weather is still warmish but you’ll probably still need a jacket.”

“Uh huh.” I said absently.

“You’ll look hot in this.” He declared.

“Good. I want to look hot.” I said firmly.

James ended up dressing me in I was wearing a black and white striped River Island dress with white Chloé Flat Ankle Cuff Sandals and white round sunglasses.

…

I was distracted the whole train ride. Why did it bother me so much that Kit might be seeing other girls? I didn’t own him, we weren’t in a relationship or anything and I was in no hurry to agree to one. But the thought of another girl rubbing her hands all over him and through his hair… it filled me with more anger than I cared to admit.

Did I bring it up with him? Would that sound like I was pushing for commitment? I didn’t want to do that.

He was once again waiting for me at the restaurant that he had chosen, a little place called ‘Walkabout’. This time he waited inside and I had to ask the hostess to direct me towards the bar, where he said he would be waiting.

Touching my cane to the floor I made my way through the place until I came to the bar, where Kit spotted me.

“Gerty, hey.” He said, I could hear the smile in his voice, “Wow. You look great.” He said as he pulled me in for a hug.

“Hmm, you smell great.” I told him, I could tell he was wearing aftershave and it was mouth-watering. It made me want to jump him right then and there.

“Thank you. It’s an off day when someone doesn’t tell me how good I smell.” He teased.

I laughed.

Placing my hand on his arm, he led me through the restaurant to a secluded section where he directed for me to slide into a kind of booth. He slid in next to me, his knee pressing into mine as he sat diagonally across from me.

“You’re going to have to read the menu to me,” I said apologetically, “I didn’t do my homework this time.”

“That’s ok.” He said, seeming genuinely un-phased, for which I was grateful, “I chose this place specifically for the menu.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because it has an ‘Aussie Menu’.” he explained.

“Shut up! It does not.” I said, the thought of Australian food making me far too excited.

“Yep.” He said happily.

“Read it out to me!” I replied, “Slow so I can really enjoy it.”

He laughed, “Alright,” he began, “Kangaroo Steak.” He read.

I laughed, it didn’t get much more Australian than that.

“You know; Australia is the only country I know that will throw its most famous animal on the grill to cook.” He said pointedly.

“Australians are all about the barbecue.” I told him.

“Ah, Chicken Parma.” He read.

“Yum.”

“Peri Peri Spiced chicken, Tomato and Asparagus Linguini, Sydney Classic Burger-” he read.

“Ooh, explain that one to me.”

“A beef patty topped with cheese, bacon, avocado, beetroot and a fried egg inside a sweet brioche.” He read aloud.

“Hmm, that sounds good. What else?” I asked.

“Ah, Walkabout House Salad, Beachwood Smoked Hot Dog, Chicken Burger, Barbecue Burger, Roo Burger, Pull Pork Burger, Wild Boar Burger, Bondi Fish Burger. Gee, you Australian’s really love your burgers.” He marvelled.

“Kit, I think you’ve found my new favourite restaurant.” I told him seriously.

He laughed, “Well your welcome. Know what you want?”

“I am going to go the Fish Burger.”

“Seriously? Fish Burger? That’s weird.”

“Yep. Its an Aussie thing and I haven’t had one since I left.” I smiled.

“Well I think I’m going to be adventurous and try a Kangaroo Steak.” He said.

“I’ve tried it.” I replied, “It’s a little gamy but very nice if its cooked right.”

“Hmm, maybe I’ll play it safe and just go the Chicken Parma.” He mused.

“Wuss.” I teased.

“Bite me.”

We ordered and as soon as the waitress was gone he reached out and took my hand, squeezing it gently, “You really do look good tonight. It’s the first time I’ve seen you in a dress.”

“I might have been trying to impress you.” I revealed.

“Really?” he asked as he shifted closer, I felt his warm breath by my ear, “And why’s that?”

“Ah,” I began, my brain momentarily addled when I felt his lips by my ear. I was intoxicated by the scent of his aftershave, so I blurted the truth, “I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t look at anyone else.”

“Why would I look at anyone else when I’m with you?” he asked, his voice low and quiet as his lips brushed my ear.

I squirmed uncomfortably and pressed my knees together, “What about when you’re not with me?” I asked curiously.

“You don’t have anyone else to worry about, if that’s what you’re thinking.” He said seriously.

“I’m not looking for commitment.” I told him just as seriously as I turned to look at him, “I just like to know where I stand.”

He smiled at my words, “There’s only you.” He told me as his hand came up and wound into my hair.

“Good.” I said, resisting the urge to smile as I pressed my lips to his in a chaste kiss that still managed to set butterflies flapping in my stomach excitedly.

“Do I have to worry about anyone?” he asked, pulling back to look at me, his hand still in my hair.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean there’s no guys at your gym or anything?” he asked, his voice low and serious.

“No.” I said simply, biting my lip in anticipation.

“Good. Because I don’t like to share.” He said as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine.

“Hmm.” I said against his lips, “were you an only child?”

“No.” he smiled, “I have a brother.”

I didn’t remember what my next question was as his hand slipped from my hair and went to my knee. His lips went to my neck and I squirmed away as a bolt of desire shot through me the moment his lips touched my skin.

“Stop it.” I told him.

“What? I’m not doing anything.” He said innocently.

“I feel things a lot more than you do.” I told him quietly.

“Really?” he asked curiously.

“Yes, a kiss on the neck is the equivalent to me shoving my hand down your pants. So stop it.” I told him as I sat up a little straighter, trying to look respectable.

“I’ll have to remember that.” He said and I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Shut up.” I told him, smiling to myself.

Our meals arrived and I took a deep breath in, not only smelling my burger, but his Chicken Parma as well. It was mouth-watering.

“Oh, excuse me while I make out with this burger.” I told him as I wrapped my hands around the bun and brought it to my lips.

“Shall I leave you and the burger alone?” he joked.

Opening my mouth, I bit into the burger and chewed slowly enjoying the explosion of fish and tartar sauce in my mouth, “Hmmm.” I moaned through a mouthful of food, “This burger, is amazing.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

We sat talking over dinner and somehow, our gym schedule’s came up.

“I do a lot of abdominal work and weights.” Said Kit as we ate, “I need to get my stamina back up for doing fight scenes. I’ve gotten lazy.”

“I do a lot of running beside the kick boxing. I don’t do any weights, but I love the rowing machine.” I told him.

“What got you into the kick boxing?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, I was mugged.”

“What?” he demanded.

“It was a long time ago.” I soothed, “but I was walking home and I got mugged. My cello was stolen and my phone and wallet. They took my cane so I was stuck on the sidewalk with no idea where I was. And I just, I didn’t like the feeling of being helpless.” I said simply.

“Jesus. That sounds horrible.” He said, his voice hard.

I shrugged, “It was a long time ago. But the point was I didn’t like the fact that I was targeted because I was blind. I didn’t like the fact that I was so helpless, so I did something about it.”

“From what I saw in that video, you certainly don’t look helpless now.” He observed.

“Well a lot of its circumstantial. I mean, who’s to say if I ever get mugged again I won’t freeze up like I did the first time. But I like to think I’m a little bit more prepared now.” I explained.

Finishing dinner, we sat talking for a long time afterwards until my phone chimed, telling me it was midnight.

“I should go.” I said regretfully, “I have to be in the recording studio in six hours.” I told him.

“Recording studio? He asked.

“Yeah, for the music video. We have to pre-record the music, even though we’ll play it live on set.” I explained.

“Ah ok.” He sighed, “Well I guess I should let you get some sleep then.”

We did our typical dance outside the restaurant, desperate kisses trying to get the other to stay while they pulled away. It was a cute game of back and forth that I enjoyed and probably dragged out for a little too long before I eventually pulled away and headed home.

…

The next morning, I was still smiling as Paul and myself caught the early train. My cello on my back and a large cup of coffee in my hand.

“You can tell James he’s not seeing anyone else.” I told him as the train jostled along.

“Who?”

“Kit.” I smiled, “He’s not seeing anyone else.”

“Oh,” said Paul, the smile clear in his voice, “Made things official last night did you?”

“Not as such,” I began, “but we made things… exclusive.” I said, searching for the right word.

“Well that’s a step in the right direction. Assuming you want a relationship. Which you clearly do, if your smile is anything to go by.” He said.

“I’m not smiling.” I defended as I attempted to hide my lips behind my coffee cup.

“Uh huh. Sure.” He smiled.

I chuckled in response as I took a sip from my coffee, “Are you nervous about today?” I asked, attempting to change the subject.

“A little. I mean, my job is over. You’ve got the hard part now.” He said.

That was true. While Paul was a better composer and defiantly had a better ear for music, I was the better cello player, which was why he gave me the leading track in the songs.

“Come on.” He said, “Our stop is next.”

The studio was far warmer than I would have liked and having the headphones on my ears as I played was a little distracting as it muffled the sound. But I didn’t let it affect my performance.

We played the song so many times by the end of the day, my fingers were sore and I lugged myself to the theatre utterly exhausted.

Lying on the couch in the green room, I put my phone to my lips so I could send Kit a message, “Fingers so sore after playing all day today. Exhausted. Hope your day was better than mine.” I told him.

His reply was quick, “I spent the day going over scripts. Boring but not as exhausting as yours.” Said Siri.

“Anything interesting?” I asked my phone.

His reply was just as quick the second time, “Not really. When can I see you again?” said Siri.

I smiled at his words, it seemed he was just excited to see me as I was to see him, “Thursday. It’s smoothie day.” I replied.

 “Only you could make me look forward to snot coloured smoothies.” He replied.

I sat grinning to myself for the rest of the night.

…

“Apparently they want to do this period styled piece. Make it look all fancy and stuffy before we break out into our rock and roll piece.” I explained when I saw him next.

I was excited to shoot the music video and I couldn’t help but tell Kit all about it.

“As someone who has done extensive work in period costumes, they are very constraining.” He told me. 

“I know. I got fitted for a corset yesterday. We shoot on Monday.” I told him, “Have you done any camera work?” I asked curiously.

“A little.” He told me, “I’m more of a theatre actor.”

“Well, I should come see your show.” I said.

“You don’t have to do that.” He said, a little too quickly.

“No, no. I want to.” I assured him, “I want to see you work. Or more, hear you.”

He didn’t laugh at my joke and an awkward silence followed.

I got the feeling I had said something wrong. Was I pushing too much? I just wanted to see his show. Was there something wrong with that?

“Got any advice for my big debut in front of the camera?” I asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

“Less is more.” He advised.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me, “Hey, you could totally come.” I said, “They need tons of extras.”

“Thanks but, I don’t need the extra work.” He dismissed.

I got the feeling I had offended him. Of course he didn’t need my help to get an acting job, why would he?

“You should still come though.” I told him, “I mean, you could meet James and Paul, they’re dying to meet you.” I smiled.

“I don’t know.” He said slowly.

“Come on!” I said persuasively, “I’d really like it if you were there. And besides, you’ve never heard me play.”

There was a long silence before he finally said, “Ok, I’ll be there.”

…

After two full hours of hair and make-up I was finally ready for my costume.

“Can’t breathe! Seriously can’t breathe!” I said as I stood there, laced up in my corset wearing a heavy, period styled dress.

“I know I’m gay but, I am wearing stockings. Literally wearing stockings right now and they are white.” Said Paul.

I laughed at the image he put in my head.

“At least your tat-tas look amazing.” Supplied James, who was doing the lighting for the music video.

“They should. They’re pushed up under my chin!” I said pointedly.

They laughed.

“Any word from Mr. Kit?” asked Paul conversationally.

I clicked the button on my phone but there was no new text, “Nothing.” I sighed.

“Hey, don’t worry.” Soothed James, “I’m sure he will show up.”

I shrugged as if I didn’t care, but in truth, I did.

Today was a big day for both Paul and myself and I really could use the extra support that Kit would offer. I wasn’t nervous about being in the camera or anything, I was more apprehensive about what this video would mean once it was done. Would enough people be interested? How much interest did we need to get for the studio to consider signing us? What would happen if they did? What would happen if they didn’t?

So many questions were swirling around in my head that I would have liked Kit there to distract me and keep my mind on the task ahead.

“You should see it out there Gerty, everyone is in costume. I feel like we’re in a time machine!” said Paul.

I smiled half-heartedly. I had told Kit what time the shoot started, he should have been here by now. Maybe he was just running late…

“Alright you two, places!” called the director.

We had already done a run through of the song without all the extras in the audience, I knew it was exactly fifteen steps from where we were to the seats where we were supposed to sit in order to perform and even though I was a little nervous about carrying my cello and walking in such a heavy dress, I put my shoulders bac, held my head high and walked out there with Paul to the polite applause of all the extras. 

We started the performance with Paul bowing and me curtsying the way I had been shown before we sat down and started the piece.

The way Paul had arranged the cello version of the song ‘Thunderstruck’ by AC/DC was that is started out as a very classical and tight song before it slowly dissolved into the faster and more erratic rhythm of the song.

The director had told us to start by playing like ‘British Snobs’ before we were to look at one another and slowly bring out our rock and roll personas.

We performed the first part of the song several times before we broke for lunch. The moment I got a spare moment I grabbed my phone and sent Kit a message, “Hey, where are you?”

I didn’t get a reply and I ate my lunch, feeling distracted the whole time. He knew how important today was to me, why didn’t he show up? Was he ok? Was something wrong with him? Maybe something had happened…

Just before we went back to filming after lunch, James came over to me with my phone, “Gerty, you got a text from Kit.” He told me.

“What’s it say?” I asked.

“It says “sorry, something came up. I’ll make it up to you’.” He read.

I blinked in shock; really? That was it? That was the only explanation I got as to why he wasn’t here? No warning? No reason why? Just that something came up?

I was sure the annoyance showed on my face because Paul spoke a moment later, “I’m sure it was something important.” He soothed.

“This was important to me.” I snapped, “He knew that.”

“Alright everyone, places!” called the direction.

I heard James scurry off and I sighed deeply. Cracking my neck from side to side, I focused on the music.

It was good we were doing the rock and roll part of the song at lunch because I was in the mood for some angry and violent head bobbing. Like most times in my life, when I found myself too stressed or sad or even angry, I could turn to music and loose myself in it.

Nothing else existed by the music. The melody. There was no thoughts or feelings, it was just the music.

Music came into my life at a time when I couldn’t help but feel disadvantaged and like I was different. Nothing made sense in my life after I lost my eyesight and often felt as if I was spinning out of control, threatening to fall off the face of the earth.

Then I had picked up a cello and started to learn how to play. When I was playing, I looked like everyone else. I was like everyone else. I was no better or worse, I was just normal and at that point in my life I needed that. I needed an anchor to hold me in what was an otherwise chaotic time in my life.

Playing music was the only time I felt normal. So I played as much as I could, dedicating myself to the art of cello playing. I didn’t want my eyesight to hold me back, I wanted people to look at me and just think ‘she is a good cello player’ not ‘for a blind girl’ but just for a person. And I got that wish.

Ever since then, music had been such a big and important thing in my life. It was my anchor but also my expression. Where ever I was, whatever I was feeling, it all made sense when I was playing music. And I had wanted so desperately to share that side of myself with Kit, to have him possibly understand.

And he hadn’t shown up.


	6. Chapter 6

I didn’t dignify Kit’s text with an answer. Nor the three messages after that that he sent. I ignored them all, preferring to pout. Let him brood over my silence, what did I care?

But the real insult was when I didn’t show up for our regular smoothie on Saturday.

When I received his text asking ‘where are you?’ I replied almost instantly.

“Sorry. Something came up.” I said sarcastically, even though I knew Siri could not translate my sarcasm to text, I felt better for having done it.

Soon after that my phone rang. I knew it was him and for a moment I debated not picking up, but my resolve in maintaining my silence was crumbling. And besides, I wanted to yell. I wanted to scream and yell and have him feel bad because I had been counting on him and he wasn’t there.

Pressing the phone to my ear, my greeting was curt, “What?”

“So I take it your mad at me.” Said Kit simply.

“No, what gave you that impression?” I asked sarcastically.

“The stony silence. The no show and then the sarcastic text. I was able to put it together.” He replied.

“Good for you.” I pouted.

He sighed deeply, “I really am sorry I wasn’t there.”

I didn’t reply to that as my anger festered.

“I just didn’t want to go through the hassle of-” he began but I cut him off.

“The hassle? Did you just say the hassle?” I demanded.

“Not the hassle, I mean-” he interjected, but I didn’t let him finish.

“This was important to me Kit! This was a big moment in my career and I was nervous about it. I wanted you there and you didn’t show because what? You couldn’t be bothered?” I demanded angrily.

“No, I just…” he trailed off before he sighed deeply, “I just wanted to keep things the way they are for a little while.”

“And coming and supporting me at a time of need would have changed things?” I demanded.

“Well, yeah.”

I scoffed, “Your unbelievable.”

“I know it sounds stupid.” He began but I didn’t want to hear it.

“You’re right. It does sound stupid. It is stupid to me that the one time I relied on you, you weren’t there.” I snapped angrily.

“I’m sorry.” He said lowly.

I mashed my lips together, absolutely fuming. The conversation wasn’t going anywhere and it was just making me angry, “I have to go.” I said suddenly, if I didn’t, I was going to say something I might regret later, “Bye.”

I hung up the phone without another word.

…

I took out my frustrations Sunday morning on the boxing bag.

“Gee, looks like someone pissed you off.” Said Wallis as he came to hold the bag for me.

“You have no idea.” I grunted.

“Boy trouble?”

“How can you tell?”

“Because you’re hitting the same spot over and over again like its someone’s face.” He replied happily.

“Sounds about right.” I huffed as I continued to pummel the bag.

“Does the guy know you’re mad at him?”

“Yep.”

“Does he know what he did wrong?”

“Yep.”

Bringing my leg up I smacked the bag with my knee. 

“Can I offer you some advice?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“If he knows what he’s done wrong and he’s sorry about it, you should give him another chance.” He advised.

“Really?” I asked as I pushed my hair out of my face.

“Yeah. Guys, they make mistakes from time to time.” He said, “Hell I’m sure you make mistakes too, on the rare occasion.” He teased.

“I don’t make mistakes. I’m perfect.” I replied stiffly.

“Be that as it may, if you like the guy, you should give him another chance.” He said soothingly.

I sighed, he had a point. Though I was still pretty angry about it. I continued to take my anger out on the bag for most of the morning, so by the time I got to the theatre that afternoon, I was a lot calmer about things.

“Oh hey, Gerty,” said Tim, the receptionist at the theatre.

“What?” I asked, looking up as I signed my name on the sign-in sheet.

“You got a delivery today.” He said.

“Really?” I asked, surprised, “What of?”

“Here, I’ll just grab it.”

I was then greeted with the sweet smell of roses. Reaching out, my fingers were met with the soft tips of what could only be the petal of a flower.

“Someone brought me flowers?” I asked in shock.

“Yep. Bunch of roses. Big old red ones.” He said.

I blinked in shock, no one had ever brought me flowers before. I felt rather, touched. A smile came unbidden to my face. 

The gesture of buying flowers not only showed forethought but also a sense of affection and wanting to make someone feel special. The grandness of the gift clearly showed that someone out there had a large amount of affection for me and wanted me to feel special. Who could have done such a thing?

“Is there a card?” I asked excitedly.

“Yep.”

“What’s it say?”

“It says ‘Sorry’ from Kit.” He read.

Kit. I should have known.

Grabbing the flowers off the bench, I clutched them to my chest as I walked to the green room that held a small kitchenette. Quickly locating a vase in one of the cupboard’s I placed my finger into the vase as I filled it up with water, stopping when the water touched my finger before I placed the flowers in them.

“Well hello,” said the familiar voice of Gabby, the first violinist in the orchestra, “Who got flowers?”

“Me.” I smiled.

“Really? Who from?”

“A guy.”

“Why?”

“He did something wrong.”

“Well by the looks of those he’s sorry.” She said, whistling in admiration, “Those are long stemmed roses too. They must have cost a pretty penny.”

“They must have.” I realized.

Sighing, I grabbed my phone out of my pocket. My anger at Kit was far less impressive now that I had taken all of my frustration out on a boxing bag. He had brought me flowers and really did seem sorry.

Wallis’s words from this morning echoed in my mind, I really should give him another chance.

Going over to the couch, I sat down and put my phone to my lips, “Call Kit.” I instructed before I pressed the phone to my ear.

He picked up on the second ring, “Hey.” He greeted, “I was hoping you’d call.”

“So this making it up to me thing,” I began, remembering his text from Friday, “What does that entail?”

“Well I was thinking you could come over to my place and I could cook your dinner.” He replied.

“You can cook?” I asked in shock.

“Kind of.” He allowed.

I smiled in amusement, that did sound nice. And I was intrigued about getting to see where he lived.

“When?” I asked.

“Tonight?” he asked hopefully.

“Gee, don’t leave a girl much time do you.” I said sarcastically.

I didn’t want to seem like I was giving in too easily, but I wasn’t doing anything tonight, so why shouldn’t I go?

“It just so happens I’m free.” I told him.

“Great.” He said, the happiness clear in his voice, “I’ll text you the address. Around six?”

“Ok.” I agreed.

“Ok.” He said, sounding slightly relieved.

…

“If he’s inviting you to his place, that’s definitely a good sign.” Said James as he stood going through my wardrobe, “It’s a sign of trust which means he’s serious about you.”

“I think he just knows he’s in the shit and wants to make it up to me.” I said as I sat on my bed feeding Sir Hops-A-Lot a piece of carrot.

“But you agreed to go over to his place.” said Paul.

“Well I wasn’t doing anything tonight and he works every other night.” I shrugged.

“Ah huh.” He replied, “Are you going to be wearing a nice little lingerie set underneath that dress James is eying?”

“I haven’t decided on the dress.” Interjected James.

“Why would I be wearing lingerie?” I asked, frowning in confusion.

“So your prepared if you have sexy times tonight.” Said Paul.

I blinked in shock, it hadn’t occurred to me until then that I was going to be in Kit’s place. Alone with him. With no public place rules of decorum to reign in our physical affection…

“We just had a fight. Sex is the last thing on my mind.” I said.

“But is it the last thing on his mind?” challenged Paul, “Speaking form experience, guys are always thinking about sex.”

“Truth!” called James, “And make up sex is the best.”

“Yeah it is.” Said Paul smugly.

“Alright, enough you two. There are young ears present.” I said, covering my rabbit’s ears.

“Be that as it may, wear nice underwear.” James advised.

I rolled my eyes, but when it came time to getting dressed, I was a little unsure. I pulled out a practical bra but teamed it with a pair of lacy underwear. Just in case.

James had chosen a floral skirt with my Leal Daccarett Anika Bralette top, which I liked to call my ‘bow top’ because it was basically a giant bow with straps. He paired it with my golden Kate Spade New York Suno Gladiator Sandals.

Dressed and ready to impress, I grabbed my cane and headed out the door towards Kit’s place.

…

Kit lived in a nice area of London and judging by the buzzer at the door, the building was probably a nice apartment building.

Running my hand down the numbers, I found his apartment and pressed the buzzer.

“Hello?” came Kit’s chirpy voice.

“Hey. It’s me.” I said.

“Oh great. Hang on, I’ll buzz you in.”

A moment later there was a loud buzzing sound and I heard the lock on the door flick open, reaching out I pushed on the door and made my way through the lobby. I eventually found the elevator and pressed the button for the seventh floor.

As I stood in the elevator, apprehension began to curl in my stomach; why was I nervous? I hadn’t done anything wrong. It wasn’t me who needed to apologize. Yet as the doors dinged open and I stepped out into the hallway, I felt a little anxious.

Finding the first doorway, I reached up and ran my fingers over the numbers, seven-ten. Kit was in seven-fifteen. Making my way down the hallway I counted out five doorways before I stopped. Reaching up I found the numbers and made sure they were the correct ones; seven-ten.

Taking a deep breath, attempting to clear my stomach of the nervous butterflies that had settled there, I knocked on the door.

I heard the shuffling of feet behind the door and the twisting of the lock before it swung open, “Hey,” said Kit seeming somewhat breathless.

“Hey.” I replied.

“Come in.” he said.

Moving my cane forward searchingly I walked passed him and down a hallway into his apartment.

The smell of cooked chicken, garlic and bacon wafted up my nose and as the hallway opened up I could hear the whirl of the oven.

“Hmm, something smells good.” I commented.

“Garlic chicken wrapped in bacon.” He said, his voice behind me. I heard him walk past me into the kitchen and I came to a stop when I felt a counter in front of me.

“Would you like some wine?” he asked.

“Please.”

Wine. That would help.

I heard him open the fridge and pull the cork out of a bottle. I looked around and tried to imagine what his apartment looked like.

For one thing, it smelled nice. Which was a good thing as most guys I knew were notoriously messy and never cleaned their apartments. Kit, obviously wasn’t like that.

I heard the sound of liquid glugging from a bottle into a glass and turned my attention back to where I thought Kit was.

“Here,” he said, placing a wine glass in my hand.

“Thanks.” I replied as I put the glass to my lips and took an experimental sniff; it was obviously a white wine and had quite a crisp and fruity bouquet. Taking a sip, I swallowed soon after; he had good taste in wine.

“Did you get my flowers?” he asked suddenly.

“Yes.” I replied, “I’ve never received flowers before so thank you.” I said, smiling at the mere thought of the red bouquet that currently had a place of pride on my night stand.

“What? That’s ridiculous. How can you never have received flowers before?” he asked.

“I just haven’t.” I shrugged.

“So, how was the shoot?” he asked conversationally.

“Long.” I sighed, “We did like fifty takes of the whole song. It was ridiculous. I mean, I get that you need to film it from a bunch of different angles, but multiple times from the same angle? That’s just insane.”

“Welcome to my life.” He said.

I frowned, “I thought you said you were a theatre actor?”

“Yeah,” he said quickly, “But I mean, when I do film stuff it always has to be done like, fifty times.”  

“I’m really nervous about them putting it online.” I revealed, “I want it to do well. Not just for me but for Paul too. He’s worked so hard.”

“You both have I’m sure.” He said.

“Yeah. It would just be really nice if the whole gamble of coming over here paid off.” I explained.

“Well hey, at least one good thing came out of you moving here,” he began.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“You’re about to get a free and delicious home cooked meal.” He said, the smile clear in his voice.

I laughed.

Dinner was surprisingly delicious and with the help of the wine, my nerves went away and we were able to talk freely once more.

Afterwards we sat on his couch, my feet in his lap, listening to music from my iPod. I was introducing Kit to my favourite band, The Darkness. The song ‘One Way Ticket to Hell and Back’ played at a low level. Loud enough so we could hear it, but not so loud that we couldn’t talk.

As the lead singer Justin Hawkins vocals filled the apartment, Kit ran his finger up the middle of my foot, distracting me from the melody.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“It sounds like he’s wailing.” He replied.

“You have no appreciation for good music.” I told him, grinning in amusement, I pulled my foot from his hands and poked him in the chest with my big toe.

I heard him chuckle, then before I knew what had happened he had grabbed hold of my feet and pulled me along the couch so I was practically sitting in his lap, “I have an appreciation for you.” He told me huskily, his warm breath swirled in from of my face. His breath smelled of wine and garlic.

“Is this where the ‘making it up to me’ part comes into play?” I asked, grinning wickedly as my stomach went into knots that clenched with anticipation.

“Maybe.” He said as his nose trailed up the side of my face, his hand gliding along my exposed leg as he did.

Turning my head, I captured his lip with my own and kissed him. He caught my bottom lip between his teeth and sucked gently before he deepened the kiss, leaning forward. I wrapped my arms around his neck and before I knew it, my back was pressing into the couch.

His chest pressed into mine as he continued to kiss me. His tongue met mine and he kissed me hotly. I was so distracted by the feel of his lips on mine that I almost didn’t feel his had trail up my leg.

As he moved his hand around my knee to the inside of my thigh I gasped and pulled away, “What are you doing?” I asked my voice coming out as breathless as I felt.

“Making it up to you.” He whispered, before his lips went to my neck.

I gasped as he kissed a known pleasure spot, his hand slid up the inside of my thigh, his fingers skimming along the line between my underwear and thigh.

I closed my eyes as I was consumed by the feeling on his lips on my neck as he nipped as the sensitive skin between my shoulder and neck, a bolt of desire going straight to my groin. I gasped loudly before I bit my lip and attempted to stay quiet.

I could feel desire pooling in my stomach like a coil that was wound so tightly I thought I might burst.

My hand gripped his shoulder tightly as he dipped his finger inside of me and an involuntary moan escaped me.

Kit placed soft kisses on my neck as he pushed his finger deeper inside of me. He moved his finger slowly and pressed his thumb to my clit, making a small circle. I felt my hips buck a little and a gasp escaped me. I immediately bit down on my lip to hold in the moans that were brewing in my throat.

He kept thrusting his finger inside of me, slowly increasing his pace. The feeling of his finger inside me and his lips on my neck, the hair on his chin tickling the sensitive skin there, it utterly overwhelmed me.

I was burning up from the inside, starting at my stomach and radiating outward. The blood was rushing through my body causing a thin sheet of sweat to form over my skin as I fought back another moan. My nails dug into his shoulder as I gripped him tightly.

Kit’s thumb rubbed at my clit with a quick tight circle as his fingers continued to push into me at a punishing rate. Then he curling his fingertips up and I felt myself shiver as the first wave of pleasure shot through me. It made my hips spasm against his hand.

I felt myself clench around his finger and he groaned against my neck, a low and guttural sound that vibrated through me.

That one sound of desire from him sent me over the edge and I felt my body become stiff as my orgasm tore through me. I cried out and clenched my eyes shut as each wave of pleasure quaked through me.

After I was done, my body relaxed and became limp beneath his. As he removed his hand he trailed a series of kisses along my jawline, making me smile before he kissed my lips, “How was that?” he asked.

“Good.” I said, feeling a little breathless, “Really good.”

“Am I forgiven now?” he asked before he pressed his lips to my neck again.

“Hmm,” I purred, smiling in pleasure, “I’m considering it.” I allowed.

I felt him smile against my neck before his lips came up to my ear, “What else do you want me to do?” he whispered huskily.

I was very tempted to reply, ‘what else have you got?’ but I knew where that would lead and I wasn’t quite ready for that.

“I think that will do for tonight.” I said, my voice shaking.

“Are you sure?” he purred as he nipped at my earlobe, causing a shiver to go down my spine.

“Yes.” I said, a lot firmer than I felt before I turned my head towards him and ran my hands through his hair, “For now.” I qualified before I captured his lips with mine once more.

…

“I. Have. To. Go.” I said pointedly.

“You. Should. Stay.” He insisted between kisses.

I giggled as he trapped me between his door and his body. I could feel his need for me pressing through his pants and into my stomach but I didn’t say anything. I simply smiled against his lips.

“It’s nearly one in the morning. You might as well stay.” He said persuasively as his chest pressed into mine.

“Can you promise me you’ll behave yourself if I do?” I asked, knowing the answer full well.

“No.” he said before his lips went to my neck.

I smiled in amusement as I placed my hands on his chest and attempted to shove him away, “Leaving.” I insisted.

“Staying!” he insisted right back before his hand came up and forced me to face him so he could press his lips to mine.

Gripping the back of his neck with one hand, I let my other hand trail down the wall as I searched for the door knob. Finding it, I twisted it slowly before I stepped forward. Thinking that I had finally decided to stay, Kit pulled me closer and I was able to fling the door open.

Seeing what I had done he groaned, “Aw, come on.”

“Good night.” I smiled as I pulled away.

He released all of me but my hand and just as I put one foot out the door he leaned forward and quickly pressed his lips to mine, “Good night.” He said against my lips and I could feel him smiling.

Smiling back, I pulled away and he released my hand. I couldn’t be sure, but I felt as if he was watching me walk away as I didn’t hear his door close until I stepped in the elevator.

Once I was free from his gaze, I leaned back against the wall of the elevator and took a moment to gather my thoughts. Butterflies were still fluttering in my stomach excitedly and he was nowhere near me.

But still, I couldn’t help but smile like an idiot. A dopey idiot who had found an amazing guy who made me feel so many different versions of excited in so many different ways.

I didn’t stop smiling the whole way home.


	7. Chapter 7

“I know that look.” Said James the moment I shuffled into the kitchen the next morning to get breakfast.

“What look?” I asked curiously.

“The look of a woman who was thoroughly satisfied last night.” He said smugly.

“Oh god,” said Paul as he sat down at the kitchen table, “It’s too early in the morning for dirty talk.”

“How long after you stepped in the door did your underwear hit the floor?” asked James, ignoring him.

“For your information my underwear stayed on my body the whole time thank you very much.” I said pointedly.

He frowned, “Then why do you have that look in your eye?”

“Just because her underwear didn’t come off doesn’t mean they didn’t do anything.” Said Paul pointedly.

“Oh!” said James in realization, “Did you do other things?” he said suggestively.

“Can we hold off on the dirty talk until I’ve had my coffee?” I asked pointedly as I poured myself a cup.

“Fine. But I expect details later.” Said James seriously.

I rolled my eyes, of course he did.

Walking over to the kitchen table, I sat down next to Paul and sighed. I had slept well last night, probably from my exertions on Kit’s couch. But I hadn’t slept long enough and I was still a little groggy that morning.

“Let’s talk about the fact that our video drops on Wednesday.” Said Paul seriously.

I sighed as I took a large sip of my coffee. I was trying not to think about it too much. Every time I did, I got nervous. What if no one watched it? What if it had all been a waste of time? What if it didn’t work out?

“I was trying not to think about it.” I said honestly.

“Have you got a contingency plan if it doesn’t work out?” asked James.

“Try some other record companies I guess.” Said Paul.

I pulled a face, an involuntary reaction that I hoped he didn’t see. I wanted to succeed in getting a record deal, it was part of the reason we had come over to London in the first place. But the thought of facing rejection again and again over something I was so passionate about was not an appealing thought.

But I couldn’t just give up. So what other choice was there but to keep going to record companies, playing for them and hoping one would take a chance on us?

The whole thing just sound exhausting. But I knew the payoff would be worth it.

…

I thought I wouldn’t see Kit until Thursday for our scheduled smoothie. But he was apparently impatient and invited me out to dinner before our respective shows on Wednesday at a place near our theatres called ‘Rules’.

Apparently it was a restaurant that served traditional English food.

I couldn’t help but feel rather happy that Kit was impatient to see me again. I of course did want to see him, but I wasn’t so forward as to do anything about it. Apparently he was.

I met him inside the restaurant and he once again showed me over to a little booth. He seemed to like that in restaurants, a booth rather than a table. I guessed he liked the privacy.

It showed how comfortable I was around Kit in that I got him to read the menu to me. Normally I liked to be independent and read up on the menu and chose beforehand as I didn’t want to have to rely on someone reading it to me. But the two of us were getting closer and I felt more comfortable relying on him for things like that.

We decided to get a Beetroot Cured Gravadlax with cucumber chutney, horseradish cream and rye bread for an appetizer, considering how early we had gotten to the restaurant.

It was quite tasty which was surprising because when Kit was reading out things like “Spatchcocked Squab Pidgeon” and “Pot Roast Leg of Rabbit” I was a little worried.

“There is no way I’m eating rabbit.” I told him seriously.

“Why?” he asked curiously.

“I have a pet rabbit and it would just be wrong.”

“You have a pet rabbit?”

“Yes, his name is Sir Hops-A-Lot and he is the love of my life.” I said seriously.

Kit laughed, “Why a pet rabbit?”

“Why not?” I smiled, “I was missing home, I didn’t have a boyfriend and I needed something to snuggle at night. So I went out and brought a rabbit.” I explained.

“Well, I guess I won’t order that out of respect for Sir Lancelot.”

“Hops-A-Lot.” I corrected, “And thank you. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.”

He ended up ordering the Braised Shin of Veal with swiss chard and slow roasted tomato. I ordered the Crumbed Fillet of Plaice with parsley mash and wild mushrooms.

“So what are you doing Sunday?” asked Kit as our main meals to arrive.

“Doing a show. Why?” I asked as the delicious smell of cooked meat wafted up my nose. My mouth was already watering.

“Well, I thought I might come and see it.” He said conversationally as I heard his knife slide against the plate as he cut into his veal.

“You don’t have to do that.” I said, “It’s not like I’m in it. I just play in the orchestra.”

I cut into my crumbled fillet and tossed a bit into my mouth; it was absolutely delicious, well cooked with the perfect texture of crunchiness on the outside then soft meat in the middle.  

“Yeah but I’ve never heard you play.” He replied.

“And I’ve never seen you act. I mean, I’ve never really seen you but you get what I mean.” I joked.

He chuckled, “Seriously though, it’s a big part of your life and I want to know what it’s all about.” 

“Ok,” I said as I finished chewing a mouthful, I placed my knife and fork down on my plate and reached into my pocket to grab out my phone, “Siri, go on to youtube.” I told my phone, “search two cellos, thunderstruck.”

“One video found.” Replied Siri.

I then handed Kit my phone, “Watch that.”

“is this the music video?” he asked.

“Yep.”

He started the video and I heard the familiar sounds of the beginning of Paul’s arrangement of ‘Thunderstruck’ sounded, the smooth classical music quickly transitioning into a powerful rock ballad.

“I love the setting.” he observed, “The period costumes. You look great.”

“It did not feel great.” I told him.

He continued watching the video and I sat enjoying my meal, a little apprehensive to hear what he would think. In reality his opinion didn’t worry me, I loved my cello playing and it was a big part of my life, like he had said, and it would be nice if I could share that with him.

“Wow. You’re a pretty amazing cello player. Like I know you told me, but I really had no idea.” He said seriously, once the video ended.

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“So how many views does it have to get before the record company will sign you?” he asked.

“Something like a hundred-thousand.” I shrugged.

“Jesus. They don’t make it easy for you.” He commented.

“Well, be sure to tell all your friends to watch it.” I said.

“I will. I’d tweet it if I had a twitter.” He said.

“You see I find that really interesting.” I said as I chewed a mouthful of food, “I’ve known a lot of actors and actresses and they all have Facebook, twitter and Instagram as a way of networking and stuff. Why don’t you have one?”

“I didn’t get into acting for the fame and I feel like that’s all those sites are good for. If you want to be famous, go and make a youtube account. But I don’t. I want to act. I want to tell stories.” He explained.

I nodded my head in understanding, he had a point and I couldn’t help but agree.

“Is that why you want a record deal?” he asked, “For the fame?”

“Fame? No. God no. I don’t want to be famous.” I dismissed instantly, “Paul and I don’t want to get a record deal because we wanted to be famous, we wanted to make music. We want to play music that we like for a living. We want to share it with people and get people interested in it.” I explained, “Fame’s never really been something I’ve been interested in. I just want to spend my days doing something I’m passionate about.”

“What are you passionate about? Besides cello playing.” He asked.

“Well music in general. Kickboxing. Fashion. Animals. And food. Most definitely food.” I smiled.

“That’s a good list.” He commented.

“What about you? What are you passionate about?” I asked curiously.

“History. Particularly the first and second world wars. Theatre. Books. Just storytelling in general I think. Story telling in any medium.” He answered.

We sat eating our meals for a moment when I remembered something funny, “James and Paul were joking with me the other day about whether or not your real.” I smiled.

“Whether or not I’m real?” he asked.

“Yeah, they think because they’ve never met or seen a picture of you that you’re not real.” I explained.

“I spoke to James on the phone.” He said pointedly.

“I know. I told them that. They were theorizing how you could be a ghost or a figment of my imagination.” I told him.

“Yes, this is all in your head. I’m not really here you know. It’s just you, sitting in a restaurant, talking to yourself.” He joked.

“You say that as if it’s weird.” I mocked.

We laughed together as we enjoyed our meals.

…

Over the next couple of weeks, a pattern developed. Every Tuesday night before our shows, Kit and I would have dinner together; we were slowly making our way through all the restaurants within a five block radius of our two theatres.

We would then see each other again on our break between shows on Thursday and Saturday.

Sometimes on Sunday night I would go over to his place and he would cook for me. Or we’d meet up for lunch on a Monday in the park or at a small café somewhere.

In all our time together we would just enjoy each other’s company and talking. Maybe some light petting if we were in the mood but that was it. Things were comfortable between us and I liked that.

During that time, I learnt quite a bit about Kit. Despite being a performer, he was quite shy, something that I was unaccustomed to when most actors I knew thought they were God’s gift to the earth. I learnt that he was funny, despite being shy. He wasn’t as outgoing or witty as me, but his sense of humour matched mine as did his sarcasm and we enjoyed running verbal circles around each other.

That was probably the best part; how the two of us talked. It was like talking to someone I had known my whole life. There was no topic that we could not speak on and talk we did, for hours on end. I’d only ever had that kind of enthusiasm and ease for talking with Paul and at times with James. But it had taken years for that kind of repour to develop, with Kit, I seemed to find it instantly.

But mostly, I liked that I could make him laugh. I liked that he liked my goofiness. I learnt a lot about his sense of humour through my attempts to make him laugh. And he did laugh often.

I learnt he was very careful about who he allowed into his life and who he opened up to. Though he didn’t say it, I knew it was because he had been burnt in the past. By a girl or someone else, I didn’t know. And if he didn’t want to tell me, I wasn’t going to ask.

What I liked most though was that Kit would often go to hand me objects or asked what I thought of the way something looked before he suddenly realized the mistake in his actions, “Sorry, I keep forgetting.” He would apologize.

I liked that he didn’t see me for my disability, I liked that he forgot. I liked that he treated me the same way he treated everyone else.

…

“I can’t believe Kit brought you a bottle of Champaign to celebrate you two getting signed by the record label.” Marvelled James as I heard him pop open the cork of the bottle.

“When are we going to meet this guy?” Paul asked as he placed the Champaign bottle on the centre of my forehead, balancing it there.

It was Sunday afternoon and like most Sunday afternoons, when none of us had work, James, Paul and myself would often lounge around home, doing stupid things. It didn’t help that this particular afternoon alcohol was involved.

I was laying on the floor, balancing the bottle on my forehead. The challenge was for me to go from lying down, to standing up, to lying back down again, all while balancing the bottle on my head.

“Yeah, I want to meet the guy that we’ve been hearing so much about. I want to see if he’s as sexy in person as he sounded on the phone.” Said James.

“I assure you, he’s pretty sexy.” I said as I slowly raised my head, working on keeping it at the same horizontal level that it had been when I was laying down so as not to jostle the bottle that was still balanced on my forehead.

Looking skywards I slowly came to a sitting position.

“I want to know what his intentions are.” Said Paul seriously, “This has been going on for over a month now. I want to know why nothing is official yet.”

“We’re taking it slow.” I said, concentrating on the bottle, was it tipping?

“Can’t be all that slow if he’s had his hand in your pants.” Commented James, “And you’ve been doing, whatever you’re doing, for six weeks. Just FYI.”

I ignored him as I raised myself up to be standing on my knees.

“Have you met any of his friends?” asked Paul curiously.

“No, not yet.” I said as I pulled one leg forward, preparing to stand up.

“Hmm, that’s not a good sign.” He said.

“What do you mean?” I asked as I very slowly came to stand, “Yes!” I shouted in triumph.

Keeping my head completely still, I moved my hips and waved my arms in a little happy dance at having successfully gone from a lying down position to a standing one without knocking the bottle from my forehead.

“Ah! Bet’s not over, back down again!” called James.

“Fine. But what were you saying Paul?” I asked, momentarily distracted.

“Well if you haven’t met his friends, it means he’s not serious.” He explained.

“He hasn’t met you guys either.” I said as I squatted down at my knees, flattening my legs out on the ground either side of me.

“We should double date sometime. All of us together. The new Sam Claflin movie, Me Before You is showing and I really want to see it before the month is out.” Said Paul.

“Sounds fun.” I said as I slowly began to lean back, “I’ll ask him.”

And then, I was once again back lying on the floor, the bottle still on my head.

“Wow! I can’t believe you did that!” said James in shock.

Be he and Paul both cheered as I raised my hands in triumph, letting out a quick “Yes!” before I grabbed the bottle from my head and sat up, holding the bottle in triumph. I put the bottle to my lips and chugged on the bubbly contents before it burned my throat and threatened to come out my nose.

I snorted as I brought the bottle away while both James and Paul laughed so loudly that I nearly didn’t hear my phone ringing over on the coffee table. Still laughing, one of the boys handed me my phone, I put it to my ear and tried not to giggle, “Hello?” I asked.

“Hello there. Is this Gertrude Trinket?” asked a female voice.

“Speaking.” I replied.

“Miss Trinket my name is Sarah Doukas from Storm Models. I hope you don’t mind but Mr. Stellan of Hard Rock Records passed on your contact information to me.” She said.

“No that’s alright.” I said, frowning in confusion, “What can I do for you Miss Doukas?” I asked, matching her formal tone.

“I saw your music video online the other day and must say, you’re a brilliant cello player.” She said.

“Thank you.” I replied.

“You’re also an extremely beautiful girl and we’d be interested in representing you.” She said pointedly.

My frowned deepened as I failed to understand what exactly was happening, “Represent me in what?”

“With modelling.” She said simply, “We’d like to shoot a portfolio for you. Send it out to some of our contacts and if all goes well we’d like to sign you. We’d negotiate contracts for you and represent you in the fashion world.” She explained, “Is that something you would be interested in?”

To say I was shocked was an understatement. I’d just been offered a modelling job. I’d never modelled in my life! Sure I’d posed for the occasional selfie for James and I had quite an interest in fashion, but I never thought of was beautiful enough, or even tall enough to even be considered for a modelling job.

“Miss Trinket, are you still there?” she asked.

“Yes.” I said, my voice coming out as shocked as I felt, “I’m sorry. I’m just a little surprised that’s all.”

“If you’d like, we could meet sometime this week and discuss the particulars. What day are you free?” she asked.

“I work most nights. But ah, I’m free every day except Thursday and Saturday.” I explained.

“Would Wednesday at ten suit you?”

“Yes.”

“Right. We’re based in Chelsea. Have you got a pen to write down the address?”

“Yes. One moment.” I said as I took the phone away from my ear, “James!” I hissed.

“What?”

“Type this address into your phone.”

“Alright.”

She told me an address, which I repeated and James typed it into his phone.

“Alright Miss Trinket, I look forward to meeting you.” She replied.

We then said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone. I sat there for a full minute looking at my phone in absolute shock.

“Who was that?” asked Paul.

“Um, Sarah Doukas.”

James coughed, “From Storm Modelling?”

“Apparently.”

“What did she want?” he demanded.

“To offer me a modelling job.”

“WHAT?!”

 


	8. Chapter 8

“Wow, so are you going to do it?” asked Kit as he showed me over to a table.

It was Tuesday night and we were out for dinner at a place called Wahaca, which by the smell, served a lot of Mexican food.

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think I have the best fashion sense. I mostly let James play dress up with me.” I shrugged, “I mean, I buy clothes based on how they feel, not how they look. James is the one that puts my outfits together.”

“Well, being a model would be much the same, people would choose your clothes for you.” He explained.

“Yeah but like, I know this is going to sound stupid but, do I really look like a model? Like I’m not tall or have a symmetrical face, I don’t even pluck my eyebrows!” I revealed.

“Is that a roundabout way saying you don’t think you’re pretty enough to be a model?” he asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t know.” I smiled, “I just don’t think I have the attitudes that most models have. I mean, I eat hamburgers for crying out loud!”

He laughed.

“Speaking of which, what are we having tonight?” I asked curiously, “Read it out to me.”

“Ok you’ve got a choice between Burrito’s, Salads, Enchiladas or from the grill.” He said.

“An enchilada could be good. Just because that’s fun to say.” I said.

“Right, you have a Mexico City style chicken enchilada which is two classic enchiladas, with grilled chicken, tomato salsa roja and topped with melted cheese. Or a Summer veg enchiladas which is two grilled enchiladas filled with courgette, cactus and summer herbs, with melted cheese.” He read.

“The vegetable one sounds pretty good. What are you having?” I asked.

“I think I’ll get a slow cooked pork burrito.” He said.

“Yum. I want a bite.”

“Back to the topic at hand.” He began, “It’s Storm modelling. It’s a pretty big deal. Do you really think you could handle having your face everywhere and people peering into your private life?” he asked.

“First of all, I want to address why you know Storm modelling is a big deal and I don’t. But to your questions; I wouldn’t see my face everywhere and I think I’d be able to handle people peering into my life, I mean it’s not that interesting. I play the cello, I eat hamburgers and I hang out with my friends. What’s so interesting about that?” I asked.

“You have no idea what people will find interesting. They will harvest the most intimate details of your life and sell them to the highest bidder. They’ll take photos of you walking down the street just because they can. They’ll make up things about you, they’ll try and get close to you just to sell your secrets. It’s not a nice lifestyle.” He said pointedly.

I frowned, “Are you speaking from experience?”

“No,” he said carefully, as if he was choosing his words carefully, “But I have a lot of friends who are famous and they don’t exactly like it.”

“Just because I’d be doing some modelling doesn’t mean I’ll be famous.” I said pointedly.

“Storm Modellings has the likes of Emma Watson and Alexa Chung on their roster. I think if they want to sign you, you’ll get pretty noticed.” He replied.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“I did some modelling for them once.” He said flippantly. 

“Really? Kit the model?” I smiled.

“Don’t change the subject.” He replied.

“Fine. Are you saying I shouldn’t do it?” I asked.

“I’m saying you should just be careful what you’re getting yourself into.” He warned.

“Duly noted.” I told him, “Besides, it’s still early days. I could go and shoot this portfolio and not even like it. Or no one could be interested. There’s no point worrying about it now when it hasn’t even happened yet.”

“Just be careful.” He said again.

“I will be.” I promised, though I was more focused on the fact that he cared enough to be worried about me than I was concerned about all the things that could go wrong with my potential modelling career.

…

That Friday I caught the train out to Chelsea and used the directions I had looked up online to find Storm Modellings head office. James had dressed me, of course. I was wearing a pair of Stella McCartney jeans that had white stars on them along with a top from ALC and a grey blazer. I paired it with black ‘Issa' Sandals with Chunky Heel and Wedge heels. I was going for a modelling job, I needed to look good and I knew fashion would be key.

Stepping inside, the building felt cold and there was a distinct smell of cleanness to the point of sterile. I found the elevator and went to level five, like I was instructed. As soon as I stepped out of the elevator I felt the fresh breath of warm air and I was immediately greeted by the sound of a preppy girl at reception, “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” I said as I made my way towards her, tapping my cane along the ground until I hit what I assumed was the front desk, “My name is Gertrude Trinket, I’m here to see Sarah Doukas.”

“One moment,” she said and I heard her pick up the receiver of the phone, “Miss Doukas, I have Gertrude Trinket here to see you.”

There was a moment of silence before she hung up the phone and I heard the wheels of what could be a chair slide back on the floor, “Yes, if you’ll just follow me.” She said sweetly.

“Um, I can’t.” I said pointedly.

“Excuse me?”

I waved my cane to show her.

“Oh um…” she trailed off, obviously uncomfortable.

“Would you be ok if I took your arm?” I offered kindly, she clearly had no idea what she was doing.

“Ah, yes. That’s good. Yeah. I’ll just show you the way.” She said.

I heard the clack of her high heeled shoes on the floor before she gently took my hand and placed it on her arm. Leading me along I heard the sounds of phones, fax machines and snatches of conversation before I heard a door be pushed open and I was showed into a new room.

“There’s a seat just there.” Said the receptionist kindly and I put my hand out and found the back of a comfortable leather chair.

“Thank you.” I said as I sat down and folded my cane up in my lap.

“Miss Trinket, it’s lovely to meet you.” Said the familiar voice of Sarah Doukas.

“Like wise.” I smiled.

“I’m sorry but, it wasn’t mentioned to me that you were… um,” she trailed off.

“Blind?” I supplied.

“Yes.”

I frowned, “Is that going to be a problem?”

“Not at all.” She said quickly, “On the contrary I think it could be great for our public relations team.”

The thought of using my blindness as a publicity stunt perturbed me a little. But I was reminded that she didn’t know before hand and that was not the entire reason she had called me here.

“Alright Miss Trinket, may I call you Gertrude?”

“Most people call me Gerty.”

“Gerty.” She began, “I saw your music video online and we’re looking for some fresh blood around here. May I ask how old you are?”

“Twenty-Two.”

“Oh so you’re still quite young then? Excellent. Can you tell me a little bit about your fashion sense?” she asked.

“I obviously don’t really go on looks, I more go for what feels good. I’m big on dressing for comfort as well as style.” I explained.

“And did you put this outfit together yourself?” she asked.

“No, my roommate James did. He says I have great taste just no idea how to put it together. So most of the time I just let him dress me.” I explained.

“So you’re open to having a stylist?” she asked.

“I guess?”

“Wonderful. Do you have any modelling experience?”

“Only pictures that my friends take of me.”

“What about runway? Can you walk without your cane?” she asked.

“If I know the layout of something, I can walk unassisted.” I explained.

“Excellent.” She said, sounding genuinely happy, “We’d like to get you in as soon as possible to get some shots done. I can’t guarantee any interest but we’d definitely want you on our books. After you’ve got a little experience we’ll start using you for our own campaigns and go from there.” She said.

“Ok, um. Do I need to sign anything?” I asked curiously.

“Not yet. We just want to shoot a portfolio with you and show it to a few of our clients. If any of them want to book you, then we will start discussing contracts.” She explained, “No, how long is your hair?” she demanded.

“Ah, I think it falls down just before my nipples.” I explained.

“Is that your natural hair colour?”

“Yes.”

“Would you be open to going a sort of dirty blond colour rather than your natural light brown?”

“Sure.” I shrugged.

“And do you have any tattoos?”

“Yes. One.”

“Where?”

“On the underside of my arm.”

“Can I see?”

Peeling my jacket off, I showed her my arm where my tattoo was.

“Stay crunchy in milk,” she said, reading my quote, “What does that mean?”

“It means stay true to yourself no matter how hard the people around you try to change you.” I explained.

“Huh.”

She didn’t sound either annoyed or delighted by my tattoo. Merely curious.

“Would you stand up so I can take a closer look at your body?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Standing up I stood beside the chair with my arms by my side, unsure of what I was supposed to do. I heard her chair shift back and heard her heels against the floor as she seemed to walk around me.

“Hmmm,” she said thoughtfully, “Do you have any piercings? Nipples? Stomach?”

“No.”

“Good. You can sit down now.” She told me.

Finding the chair once again I sat down, hearing her sit down a moment later, “And do you have your measurements for me?” she asked.

“Yes, I got my roommate to write them down.” I said as I found my handbag and fished the piece of paper out of my purse.

It had been quite an interesting experience standing in the living room with a tape measure, measuring my various parts. I of course knew some of the things she had asked for, my height, weight, cup size and bra size. But others like the circumference of my waist, stomach, hips and boobs, the width of my shoulders or the length of my legs I didn’t know.

“Right. This all looks very good. And I assume you’re comfortable wearing lingerie?” she asked.

“Yes. Though I’d like to avoid being nude.” I told her.

“Oh that’s not a problem darling. We do tasteful photoshoots. Not tarty.” She explained.

“Excellent.”

…

“So they want to do a few headshots of me and a few of me in lingerie and then they’ll send them off to a few of their clients and see what happens.” I told Kit as we sat drinking our smoothies the next day.

“Lingerie? Really?” he asked curiously.

“Typical, that’s the first thing you’re interested in.” I smiled.

“I don’t suppose I can get a copy of those pictures?” he asked as he reached across the table and grasped my hand, pulling it up to his lips for a kiss.

I grinned at him cheekily, “I could be persuaded.”

“How about dinner at my place again? This Sunday.”

“Actually, I had something else in mind.”

“Oh?”

“Why don’t you come over to my place?” I offered, “I could cook for you, for a change.”

“Oh that sounds nice.” He said as he threaded his fingers through mine.

“I can introduce you to my roommates. They both really want to meet you.” I continued.

He pulled his hand from mine and I heard him sigh deeply. I immediately got a cold and disclosed vibe from him, “I don’t know about that.” He said seriously.

“James and Paul are dying to meet you. They, and I quote, want to see if you’re as good looking as you sound.” I smiled, attempting to lighten the suddenly serious mood.

“I’m not good with meeting new people.” He said quietly.

“Well hey, they just want to meet you. They’ll probably head off after that so we can be alone.” I explained, “Don’t stress too much.”

What he was saying wasn’t adding up. Yes, Kit seemed a little closed off at times, but meeting new people? On more than one occasion somebody had come up and asked for his picture and he’d always been very welcoming and nice. Why was it suddenly a big deal just to meet my friends?

He sighed again, a long and drawn out breath, “I just don’t know Gerty.”

I frowned as something suddenly occurred to me, “Let me ask you a question Kit, what are we doing here?”

“What do you mean?”

I sighed deeply, “I didn’t want to ask this question because honestly it didn’t matter to me. But now it seems like I kind of have to.”

“Have to ask what?”

“What is it that we’re doing here?” I asked and I heard him shift back in his seat, “Are we friends that kiss occasionally? Were you thinking this was going to turn into friends with benefits? You gotta tell me what’s going on here because I’m a little lost.” I said honestly.

“I thought we were heading towards a relationship. Is that not what you want?” he asked, sounding surprised.

“Is that what you want?” I asked.

“I asked you first.”

“Of course I’d like to be in a relationship with you. You’re a great guy and I really like you. But you can’t blame me for thinking you were only after a bit of fun.” I said pointedly.

“Why would you think I wasn’t serious about you?” he asked.

“Because you haven’t told me about your life. I know who you are as a person, but your career, your past relationships, your family, you haven’t told me any of that. Which is fine, I figured you’d tell me when you were ready. So I’m trying to move things forward and figure out what kind of relationship you want. But now I get the distinct feeling you don’t want to meet my friends. Am I right?” I asked.

He was silent for a moment, “Yes.”

That just brought through an entire new round of questions.

“Why? Because you think then that you’ll have to introduce me to your friends?” I asked, my mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusion as to why that might be, “Are you ashamed of me?”

“What? No!” he said, sounding horrified by the idea, “I just…” he seemed to choose his words carefully, “I wanted to keep this between us. Just the two of us.”

“This? You can’t even tell me what this is!” I burst out angrily.  

A long and drawn out silence developed between us in which I sat there fuming and Kit was silent as a stone at the one time when I really needed him to speak up.

“You know what,” I began as I grabbed my cane and stood up, “Call me when you figure it out.” I said simply before I walked out the door.

…

“Did you throw your smoothie at him?” demanded Paul when I told them what had happened with Kit.

“How can he not want to meet us? We’re adorable.” Complained James, who was taking the whole thing a little too personally.

“But he just let you walk away? He didn’t say anything? What a douche.” Said Paul.

“Why wouldn’t he want to meet us?” asked James.

“I mean, it’s not like you just met the guy and was like ‘hey meet my friends’ you waited until you were serious about him. And then he’s all ‘whoa! It’s moving too fast.’ Like come on!” said Paul.

“Do you think he doesn’t like us? Does he think we’ll judge him? Of course we’ll judge him but we’ll do it behind his back.” Said James.

“James!” I burst out angrily, “Can you please focus on something else?”

There was a moment of silence as he considered my request.

“Well I think it’s about time you got some answers, this has been going on for like, two months now. Either make it official or drop it.” He eventually replied.

“But how can he want to get serious and not want to meet your friends? Isn’t the whole point of being serious to meet the family and the friends and all that?” asked Paul pointedly.

“I mean, we’re not even as scary as meeting the family. We’re just the friends. Why wouldn’t he want to meet us?” asked James, his voice taking on a slight pleading tone.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

“Like I get that meeting family is for when you’re really serious. But not meeting friends? That’s just like, basics in a relationship.” James continued. 

“Exactly! Why haven’t you met any of his friends either? I think he’s bullshitting. He’s not serious at all. He just wanted a rub and a tug. He probably didn’t think you were even worth introducing to his friends, let alone his family.” Said Paul pointedly.

I nodded, “That was the feeling I got.”

“I say forget him.” Said Paul immediately.

I sighed deeply, if only it were that easy. Over the last couple of weeks, I’d gotten to really care for Kit. I liked hanging out with him. I liked the way he made me feel as if I wasn’t disabled or inferior to him like I so often did with guys. I was just a normal girl to him and I liked that.

But more than that, I liked him. I liked the way he spoke about things he liked, how he would get all excited talking about his favourite movie or play. I liked that we had different taste in music and that he could still appreciate what I liked and even debate with me about what he liked. I liked him as a person. I liked him for who he was and I had foolishly thought that he had felt the same way about me.

He may not have seen me as ‘the blind girl’ but that didn’t mean he didn’t see me as a collection of holes for him to get his rocks off on. Which would have been fine if he’d told me that from the start. But instead we had gotten to know each other and he had made me care for him.

Now everything was fuzzy and confused and I had no idea what was going to happen.

“Seriously though, do you think he doesn’t like us?” asked James.

“He hasn’t even met us.” Said Paul.

“That’s what I’m saying!”

Sighing, I checked my phone; there was no new messages. Not from Kit or anybody else.

“Have you two had sex yet?” asked James suddenly.

“No.” I replied.

“Why not?”

“Well I wasn’t sure what kind of relationship it was. Whether he was just after sex or if it was serious. If it was serious then I was going to wait, but if he just wanted sex, he could have told me and we could have gotten it over and done with. But he never did.” I explained.

“So you assumed he was edging towards something serious?” asked Paul.

“I didn’t assume anything. I think I hoped it was heading towards something serious.” I added.

“But you’ve done other things.” Said James pointedly, “Maybe he already thought it was just a friends with benefits arrangement.”

I frowned, he had a point. Kit and I had done some pretty heavy make out sessions, had I led him into thinking this was just a sexual relationship? Was this whole thing my fault for misunderstanding the dynamic of our relationship?

No, that couldn’t be. Kit had said he thought the relationship was heading somewhere serious. But had he really meant that or was he just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear? He may have said he wanted a serious relationship, but his actions said otherwise.

The whole thing was terribly confusing and making my head hurt.

“Guys, I’m going to bed.” I sighed.

“Ok. Try not to dwell on Kit too much dearie.” Added Paul.

“Yes, you’ve got your photoshoot tomorrow and you need to look your best.” Said James.

The photoshoot; I had completely forgotten. Waking up tomorrow with bags beneath my eyes was sure to make for some good photos. Groaning I got ready for bed and willed myself to fall asleep quickly, but thoughts of Kit kept me awake for most of the night.

 


	9. Chapter 9

The story of how I ended up sitting in a shopping trolley outside Super Smoothie was a long one.

Friday morning, I had gotten up before dawn and made my way to the Storm Modelling studios in Chelsea. I then sat in a chair, fighting off sleep for two hours while my hair and make-up were done by a team of professionals. I then went and stood in front of a camera and basically did what I was told. ‘Look this way. Look that way. Look down. Look Up. Look sad. Look happy. Look pensive ect.’

Then, I was pushed back into a chair and had my hair and make-up done again before I changed into a lacy set of lingerie. The photographer gave me similar directions as last time, but this was more about my body and he would often come up and turn my chest or angle my hips a certain way.

The whole thing was quite easy really. I had no idea why models seemed to make out what they did was extremely hard. But I found that I actually enjoyed myself in having my hair played with, my face painted and even wearing the silk lingerie that I was pretty sure was more expensive than anything I owned.

That night, instead of going home to sleep like I wanted, I headed to the theatre and played through a show.

This morning I would have loved to have slept in, but Paul shook me awake at six in the morning and the two of us headed to Hard Rock headquarters to debate with our producer and label representatives what songs we wanted to have featured on the album.

‘Thunderstruck’ and ‘Highway to Hell’ by AC/DC were agreed on. I wanted to include ‘I believe in a thing called love’ by the Darkness but the label was having none of that. They agreed on ‘Wake Me Up’ by Avicii, ‘Shape of my Hear’ by the Backstreet Boys and ‘With or Without You’, which were all Paul’s suggestions. The only one of mine they agreed to was ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana and ‘Welcome to the jungle’. The last song was going to be a rock and roll version of the famous classical piece ‘The Trooper Overture’. And just like that, we had the songs for our album and what we would perform while on tour.

By the time that was done, we both had to be at our respective theatres to perform in the matinee performances. Once they were done, I was absolutely exhausted and the only thing I thought might make me feel awake was a smoothie from Super Smoothie. But I didn’t want to go there alone, not when Kit could be there. So I called Paul and he agreed to come with me.

We had barely walked a block when I complained that I was too tired, so Paul had grabbed a nearby shopping trolley as a solution. I climbed inside and he proceeded to push me the rest of the way to the café.

“Are you aware of how odd this looks?” asked Paul as he pushed me along the footpath.

“Surprisingly no.” I smiled. I was feeling a lot more invigorated now that I was sitting in a trolley. Probably because I found the whole thing highly amusing.

“James just text me saying he’s already there.” Said Paul.

“Well text him our orders. I don’t want to wait in line.” I replied.

I actually didn’t want to risk being at the café too long encase Kit was there. I wanted to avoid an awkward scene. I figured if he was there, with James and Paul with me, he wasn’t likely to approach given his aversion to meeting them.

When we got there, James was already waiting out the front for us.

“Oh my god! You two will never guess who I just met!” He said as soon as we joined him.

“The Queen of England?” I asked as I draped my legs over the front of the trolley.

“Oprah?” asked Paul.

“Kit Harington!” he said excitedly.

I frowned, the name sounded familiar but I couldn’t place from where.

“The guy from Game of Thrones?” asked Paul excitedly.

“Was that the one that played Prince Charming in Cinderella?” I asked curiously.

“No, that was Richard Madden.” Said James dismissively.

I nodded, “That’s right. I haven’t watched Game of Thrones ever since they killed him off.”

Richard Madden had such a lovely voice that I knew he must have been incredibly handsome in person. When they killed him off the show, I had been so disenchanted by the whole thing that I’d only sporadically watched Game of Thrones since.

“Did you talk to him?” asked Paul.

“Yeah! Told him how happy I was that he wasn’t dead.” He replied.

“I knew it wasn’t dead. I knew it!” said Paul.

“Oh my god he’s looking this way!” squeaked James.

I’d lost interest in the conversation by that point, “James did you get my smoothie?”

“Yeah.” He said and I held my hand out for him to place it in my hand.

Grabbing the smoothie, I took a sip, it was a delicious mixture of banana and coconut. Like always.

“Can we go in? Do you think I can get a selfie with him?” asked Paul curiously.

“I don’t think a lot of people have recognized him yet. So if you do it quick you might get lucky.” Said James pointedly.

“Be right back!” called Paul and I heard the door of the café swing open.

“What’s he doing?” I asked absently as I sipped my smoothie.

“Paul is talking to him. They just posed for a selfie. Now he’s looking at us! Wave!” said James happily.

I didn’t even look up from my smoothie. I wasn’t interested in Kit Harington. I was interested in my Kit. I wondered if he was in there. Was he looking at me? Did he think it was funny that I was in a shopping trolley? Did he want to come speak to me?

I heard the door swing again, yet I could still feel a pair of eyes watching me. Was it my Kit or was it Kit Harington?

“I got a selfie with Kit Harington!” cried Paul excitedly.

“Whoopy doo. Can we go now?” I asked.

Paul gave the trolley a hard push and we were whizzing down the path once more. We’d barely gotten to the park when my phone rang, “Hello?” I asked as I climbed out of the trolley.

“Hey, it’s me.” Said Kit.

I froze; I hadn’t been expecting him to call.

“Hi.” I said, unsure of what else to say.

Paul and James had gone uncharacteristically quiet and I got the feeling they were eavesdropping on my conversation.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“Um, I’m out with friends at the moment.” I replied, now was not a good time to talk. But more than that, I wasn’t ready for the conversation that could possibly signal the end of our time together.

“No, I don’t mean now. I know your busy. I mean later. Are you open to talking to me?” he asked.

“Yes.” I replied carefully; where was this going?

“Tomorrow night after your show, are you free?”

“Yes.”

“Can you come around to my place?”

Alone with him in his apartment? A thought that previously delighted me now sounded extremely awkward, “I don’t know.”

“I want to talk about this Gerty. I want to make things work with you.” He said seriously.

I sighed deeply; he was making an effort. He wanted to work things out. It was only fair that I make the same effort and meet him halfway, “Ok.” I agreed.

“Thankyou.” He said, releasing a long breath. He sounded relieved, “Have fun with James and Paul.”

I frowned, how did he know I was with James and Paul?

“I’ll see you tomorrow night.” He said.

“Yeah. Bye.” I said and he hung up the phone.

I weighed the phone in my hand for a long while after the call had finished, thinking over what he had said.

“So?” asked James probingly, “What’s the deal?”

“I’m going over to his place tomorrow night to talk.” I explained.

“Well that’s a good sign.” Observed Paul.

“Make sure you wear nice underwear.” Advised James.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because make up sex is amazing.” He said simply.

I rolled my eyes, trust James to think of sex.

…

Sunday night, after work, I made my way to Kit’s place. James was getting into the almost annoying habit of dressing me. It was like I was his own personal doll. But I wore Lace Panel Shell top with Rag and Bone Distressed mid-rise skinny jeans. As well as Mykonos brown wedges and Miu Miu round frame sunglasses.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, what were we going to talk about? We were at an impasse really, I wanted him to meet my friends and he didn’t want to. In order for something to be worked out between us, one of us would have to give in. The two of us were quite stubborn, I couldn’t see either one of us backing down from our points.

That being said, if this was goodbye I wanted to make it a proper goodbye. I wanted to know that we had tried everything and failed instead of just leaving things unresolved between us.

Tracing the numbers of Kit’s apartment with my fingertips, I quickly knocked on the door. A moment later I heard it open, “Hey,” said Kit’s voice, “I’m glad you came.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just stood there feeling foolish.

“I called you here because I want you to see what I want us to have.” He said seriously.

“And what do you want us to have?” I asked curiously.

Everything was happening very quickly, I thought he would at least invite me in before we got down to the serious relationship talk.

“I want you to be my girlfriend. I want you to meet my friends and family.  I want you to be a part of my life.” He said firmly.

“You do?” I asked in disbelief, the cold façade I had been prepared to use was already melting at his words.

“Yes.” He said seriously, “Now, would you like to come in?”

“Sure.” I smiled.  

Stepping inside, I walked down the hallway feeling slightly… chuffed. This whole thing had worked out far better than I thought it would have. I thought we would be sitting down for hours haggling over what we both wanted, yet I had barely stepped in the door and had already gotten a promise of more than I could have ever hoped for.

I had just stepped into the open part of the apartment when I was suddenly met with a new voice, a female one, “Is she here?”

I frowned in confusion as I came to a stop, why was there a girl in Kit’s apartment?

“Oh my god your real!” said the voice before I felt a pair of arms wrap around me in a hug.

I jumped slightly, surprised by the contact. Who was hugging me? And why? The girl smelled of sweet perfume and the skin of her arms was bare. She held me close for only a moment before she pulled back to look at me, “Hi, I’m Kit’s sister in law Mia.” She explained.

“Oh.” I said as understanding dawned on me, “Ok.”

“I’ve heard so much about you. I’m so happy to finally meet you.” She said happily.

“Thanks. I’ve, ah, heard nothing about you.” I said, turning my head in the direction I thought Kit was. Why was his sister hugging me? Why was she here? And why had she heard so much about me? What on earth was going on here?

“Gee, don’t frighten the poor girl Mia.” Said a new voice that sounded a little similar to Kit’s voice but different.

“This is my husband John, Kit’s brother.” Said Mia.

“Nice to meet you.” I replied before I whipped around in search of Kit, where was he and what was going on?

“Come on, sit with me.” Said Mia as she took my hand and lead me away.

Knowing there was nothing I could do, I sat down on what felt like the couch and folded away my cane. A few things were staring to make sense, Kit had said he wanted me to meet his friends and family. I didn’t think he had meant right at this moment but apparently he had.

I tried to gather my scattered thoughts and appear normal, or at least, not so shocked, in front of his brother and sister in law.

“So, ever since I heard there was a new lady in Kit’s life I’ve been dying to meet you and tonight Kit invited us over. He was finally ready to let us meet you, so here we are.” She explained happily.

“I’m glad he told you what was going on because I had no idea.” I said honestly.

“I didn’t tell you because I thought you wouldn’t come.” Explained Kit and I felt him place a wine glass in my hand.

“Yeah it can be quite scary meeting the family.” Added Mia, “But don’t worry, from everything I’ve heard about you, I think the two of us will be great friends. But mostly I’m just glad he’s finally over Rose.”

I blinked in shock, “Rose?”

“His ex-girlfriend.” She explained.

“Succubus.” Added John.

There was too much information be thrown at me at once. The first and most pressing of which was that Kit had not only spoken to his family about me but was now introducing them to me. But now, we were talking about ex-girlfriends? Something we had never talked about before.

“Kit and Rose dated on and off for years. But now that he’s found you, we’re happy he seems to be finally over her.” Said John pointedly.

“I’m standing right here.” Said Kit loudly.

“Shut up and check on dinner. Let us get to know your girlfriend.” Said Mia dismissively.

I blinked in shock; girlfriend? Kit had called me his girlfriend just before, but had he already used the term to his family? Or had it been Mia who had given me the label? Either way Kit did not correct her. Did that mean he was ok with applying that label to me?

I sat on the couch attempting to appear calm as I was utterly overwhelmed at the information being presented to me. I was meeting Kit’s family, which suggested that our relationship was at a serious level. I had just been called his girlfriend, a term that Kit did not object to. That indicated that things were somewhat official. And now, Kit’s family were talking with me about his ex-girlfriends. What on earth was going on? I thought the two of us had been on the verge of a break up, not making our relationship stronger. What on earth was he doing?

“So,” began John, “Kit tells us that you play rock and roll songs on your cello and that you just signed a record deal?” he asked.

“Ah, yes.” I said, Kit had talked about me to his family? That once again indicated that things were serious between us. Why would he do such a thing when I previous thought this was all just a fling?

He didn’t want to meet my friends but he was more than happy to introduce me to the people closest to him? What on earth was going on?!

“Excuse me for a moment, I’m just going to go and get some ice for my wine.” I explained as I stood up and took several short steps from the lounge room into the kitchen. I immediately placed my glass on the counter the moment my fingertips touched it.

“Kit!” I hissed.

“Yes?” he asked, not sounding very far away.

“What the hell is going on?”

“I’m cooking dinner.” He said unashamedly, his voice sounding closer than before.

“I meant with your family.” I said quietly, hoping that they could not hear us over the sizzling of some kind of meat, which smelled delicious.

“You wanted a sign that I was serious. So I thought, why not introduce you to my brother and his wife?” he said simply.

I blinked in shock, that had not been the answer I was expecting. Quickly recovering, I quizzed him a little more, “And you’ve spoken about me to them?” I asked.

“Yes.” He replied.

I frowned, my eyes narrowing.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“What are you playing at? I was supposed to come over here and discuss what kind of relationship you wanted. Not meet your family.” I said pointedly.

“This is the kind of relationship I want.” He explained.

I blinked in shock. None of this made sense.

One moment I was thinking he just wanted to be friends with benefits, the next he was introducing me to his family? I thought he hadn’t trusted me enough to share with me details about his exes and now we were all freely talking about them?

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“I’m confused.” I said honestly.

“Ok, I’m going to make a statement and if you object to anything, just say.” He offered.

“Ok.”

“You’re my girlfriend. I’m introducing my girlfriend to my brother and his wife. I’ve talked about you to them and it’s all been good things. As far as they are concerned they think we’ve been dating for a few weeks. They wanted to meet you. They already like you. So you should go and talk to John and Mia and get to know them.” He advised quietly.

I didn’t have any objections to anything in his statement. I was glad he had laid it all out on the table for me like that otherwise I would be incredibly confused. 

Unsure of what else to do, I grabbed my glass of wine and headed back over to the couch, sitting down when my hand encountered the smooth leather, “Sorry.” I apologized, “What were we talking about?”

“Whatever you would like to talk about darling.” Said Mia sweetly.

I thought for a moment; if Kit was prepared to introduce me to his family, I was going to take advantage of this opportunity. I didn’t know if I would ever get it again, “What was Kit like as a child?” I asked curiously.

“Oh he was really shy.” Said John, “He was always following me and my friends around. Didn’t have many of his own until he got into acting.”

“Really?”

“Yeah he really came out of his shell with all the acting stuff. I guess he just found his niche, like everyone.”

I nodded, my niche was music. His was acting. I liked that I knew that.

“Kit told me that you’ve recently gotten into modelling?” asked Mia conversationally.

“Yeah, that’s quite recent actually. I did a photoshoot just the other day and I’m just going to see where it leads. Music is my main interest but I’ve always liked fashion so I’m interested to where the modelling leads.” I explained.

“That’s awesome. It’s great that you’ve got other interests. I myself love fashion.” Said Mia pointedly, “I love what your wearing.”

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“Eh, enough about fashion, I can feel my sperm dying one by one.” Said John.

I laughed in amusement, “So who was this ex-girlfriend you were comparing me to?” I asked curiously.

“Rose.” Said Mia, “And trust me, there is no competition. You are so much better than her.”

“Am I?”

“Oh yeah. Rose played with Kit for years. One minute she wanted to be serious, the next she wanted to see other people.” Said John with what sounded like an annoyed sigh.

“It was really frustrating watching Kit go through that. Which is why we are both so glad he has you now.” Said Mia happily.

A lot of things were suddenly falling into place. Was this why Kit had trusting issues? Because he had been played in the past? Was this why he never spoke about his ex-girlfriends or past? It all made sense now.

But one thing seemed clear, he had definitely spoken to his family about me and I wanted to know what had been said. What impression did they have of me before I stepped into the room?

“And what exactly has he said about me?” I asked curiously.

“Just that you’re a great girl and he really likes you.” Said John simply.

“Which we are thrilled about.” Said Mia excitedly, “Honestly he’s been so caught up on Rose for so long. It’s so great to meet a girl that is so much better for him. And who, you know, is interested in him for him.”

“What other reason would I be interested in him for?” I asked curiously.

“Exactly my point.” Said John simply.

“It sounds like you both worry about him quite a bit.” I observed.

“Always.” Said John.

“Sometimes.” Allowed Mia, “We’re just glad he is happy right now. And you do make him happy. I hope you know that.”

“I’m beginning to.” I smiled.

And I really was. It was one thing for Kit to make me so happy, something as simple as the two of us getting a smoothie together made my double show days so much more enjoyable. But to hear that Kit felt the same way… it gave me a same rush of affection for him.

I hadn’t realized how much of my affection I was holding back until that moment. But it was like in that moment when I realized that he not only thought of me as his girlfriend, but was serious enough about me to introduce me to his family, that the flood gates burst open and I was swept up in the unbelievable feeling of giving affection and having it returned.

“Ok, you can stop talking about me. Dinner is ready.” Called Kit.

We made our way over to the dinner table and I felt Kit sit down next to me.

“Dinner smells delicious. What is it?” I asked as the smell wafted up my nose.

“Chicken Parma’s. You told me you were home sick last week so I made them for you.” Said Kit simply.

I smiled, touched by the gesture, “Thank you.”

Unable to help myself I reached out and grabbed his hand that I could feel at my side. I gave it a light squeeze to let him know how appreciative I was. Not only for the meal but for taking the bold step of introducing me to his family, for giving me a glimpse into his past and for letting me know him a little better.

But most of all I was grateful that he seemed to care about me as much as I cared about him and even more shocking was that he wanted the same thing I wanted; a serious relationship. Our ideas of what that might be and how to get there were a little different, but it seemed that the end result was the same and that was all I cared about.  


	10. Chapter 10

Dinner was lovely.

We all sat talking long after the food was finished. I was surprised at just how easily the conversation flowed and how much I was able to talk with, in particular, Mia. She was just so genuinely excited by me and everything I said or did. She was so eager to hear about the most mundane details of my life and listened far too intently.

But I was able to learn so much about Kit as well. What he was like as a child and how he interacted with not only his brother John, but also his sister in law, whom he treated the same way he treated his brother.

I learnt his thoughts and opinions on things that I would have never thought to ask and by the end of the night, I felt a little closer to him. Like I now knew him better.

Standing in the kitchen, I hugged John and Mia goodbye, promising to organize a shopping trip with Mia before I leaned against the kitchen counter and waited. I heard Kit say his goodbyes and shut the door, indicating we were alone.

I heard his feet pad against the floor as he made his way down the hallway back to me.

“Your family seems nice.” I smiled pleasantly.

“Yeah. Mia liked you.” He said conversationally, his voice sounded close, then I felt him lean against the bench next to me, “John too.”

“So was this your big plan?” I asked, “Get me to meet your family so I would know you were serious about us?”

“Pretty much.” He said, I could hear the smile in his voice.

I sighed, “I don’t want to be having these kind of… complications so early on. Being in a relationship with someone is supposed to be easy.” I said, finally giving voice to the worry that I had been feeling for some time now.

“Gerty,” he began, I heard his weight shift as he ran his hand up my bare arm, “If you knew what a mess of a relationship I had just gotten out of you would see how great it is to be with you. How easy things are.” He explained, “I don’t want to lose you.” He said seriously as his hand came up to cup my cheek.

I leaned my face into his hand, enjoying the sensation. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, but I knew I meant them, “I’m not going anywhere.”

There was a moment of silence before I felt his weight shift and his hold on me become a little firmer. I had just enough time to flutter my eyes closed before he pressed his lips to mine.

In our time apart I’d forgotten just how my body responded to his. How my lips automatically parted and my body curved into his. There was something different about this kiss… it was filled with a sense of need. A hunger almost to be closer and closer with one another. I wanted to feel his bare skin pressing into mine. I didn’t want any barriers between us.

Stretching up on the tips of my toes, I wound my hands into his hair and kissed him hotly, my fingers tangling in the silky curls as I desperately tried to get closer to him. I felt Kit’s hands trail down the side of my body before he placed his hand very firmly on the spot between my backside and leg.

I only had a moment to realize what he was going to do before he did it. With a tight grip on my backside he lifted me off the ground and turned so my lower back momentarily hit the counter before he placed me atop of it.

I had the strange feeling of being taller than him for once as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me. I felt the backs of my knees hit the counter before Kit grabbed at my legs and pulled me to the edge of the counter. I could feel his erection straining through his pants and pressing into my thigh and for once I did not feel the need to push him away of give him room to calm down. I realized I wanted him closer, as close as he could get and I knew what that meant.

“Kit,” I murmured as I turned my head to the side for a moment, desperate to grab a moment of breath as a smile full of anticipation tugged at my lips.

“Hmm?” he said in response, seeming entirely too distracted as his lips went to my neck.

I bit my lip as he found a known pleasure spot and my desire caused a series of knots to clench so tightly in my stomach it was almost painful. I was about to forego thoughts of a bedroom and demand he take me right there on the counter. But the cool benchtop was already digging into my back uncomfortably.

Regaining what was left of my mind, I very firmly placed my hand on his shoulder and shoved in order to get his attention. His lips broke away from my neck with an audible gasp as I felt his confusion.

“Should we take this to the bed room?” I asked.

“Hmm.” He said thoughtfully and I could hear the smile in his voice as he ran his hands down my leg before he pressed his lips to mine hotly, “Yes, there’s a bed in the bedroom. And I’m very pro-bed.”

I had just enough time to laugh before he gripped my thighs tightly and pulled me off the bench. I clutched at him for a moment before I turned my head and found his lips once more. I trusted he knew where he was going as he walked us down what felt like another short hallway.

I gripped his face between my hands as I kissed him passionately. I could feel his shirt against the skin of my arms and I felt as if my shirt was in the way, I didn’t like that. I felt unbearably hot and confided by my clothes so I gripped the bottom of my shirt and momentarily pulled away to dump it unceremoniously on the floor.  

I heard Kit laugh and I smiled as I captured his lips with mine again. I heard a door being pushed open as he took a few more steps before his grip on my thighs slid up my legs to grip my backside and I was lowered gently to the floor, once again shorter than him.

Sliding my hands down his neck I was breathing heavily as I pulled at the bottom of his shirt. His hands quickly covered mine and helped me rid him of it. I heard the material fall to the floor and I eagerly as I ran my fingers over his chiselled muscles greedily before I slid them up his chest and pushed the shirt off his shoulders.

His hands came to cup my face before he captured my lips with his own, tugging slightly on my bottom lip.

I grinned and pulled back, startled by the sensation that provoked in me but he didn't give me a chance to escape as he wrapped his arms around my back, holding me firmly in place.

I wasn't sure how it happened but slowly he moved us backwards until I felt the edge of the bed hit the back of my legs. Fear and desire shot through and my trembling legs suddenly parted slightly on their own accord.

I ran my hands down his chest again, enjoying the feeling of the taunt muscles there before I caressed his erection through his pants. He bit down on my lip in response. I flicked open the button on the top of his pants before I slowly pulled down the zipper, letting my fingers brush him as I did, I made sure to keep my pace torturously slow just to tease him.

He groaned against my mouth, "If you keep doing that, this will be over far quicker than either of us wants it to be." He warned, his voice low and guttural.

Encouraged, I wanted to test out my newfound power, so I slipped my hand inside his boxers and let my fingers brush against the base of him.

He made a strange groaning sound before he pressed his lips to mine with renewed vigour, his arms wrapping around my middle so tightly I felt as if all the air in my body had left my lungs. My legs were no longer able to hold me and I sat down on the edge of the bed. I spread my hands either side of him and pushed his pants and underwear down as far as I could before he stepped away. I heard the sound of crumbled denim hitting the floor before I felt a pair of strong hands grab my foot, removing my shoe.

I smiled as I leaned back on my elbows as he ran his hands up my legs and flicked open the button of my pants. Grabbing the hem of my pants he pulled them down my legs in the same torturous pace in which I had used with him. I threw my head back and enjoyed the feeling of his fingers skimming along the skin of my legs as he pulled my pants off my legs.

The moment my legs were free, he was on me.

All the space between our bodies vanished and I relished in the feel of his skin against mine. Every inch of his body pressed into mine but what drove me crazy was the feeling of his taunt arms either side of me, holding himself up slightly so his weight did not crush me.

But I wanted to be crushed, I wanted to feel every part of him I gripped his back gently, feeling the hard muscles there, I felt myself grow more aroused as I ran my hands down his back. I deepened our kiss, unable to contain myself as my legs parted slightly; I felt his erection press against me. 

His hands reached around my back, fumbling with the clasp of my bra for a moment. I leaned forward as he got the clasp undone and pulled it off me, dumping it to the side before I laid back down on the bed.

For a moment there was nothing, his hips pressing into mine and I knew he was looking down at my naked body and I wondered what he was thinking. Were my boobs too big or too small? Did he like the curve of my hips? The muscles of my stomach? Did he notice the small freckles that dotted my collar bone?

He apparently liked what he saw because a moment later his lips went to lips and he kissed me with renewed passion. I felt Kit's hands trail down my body, the exposed flesh of my stomach and hips, down my leg quickly before he found the crook of my knee, hitching my leg up around him as he ground against me.

I moaned against his lips at the pleasurable sensation that began to overwhelm me, my legs parted even wider as he continued to grind into me, "Kit..." I gasped, unable to take much more as my toes began to curl in pleasure.

I didn't need to say anymore as he pulled my underwear down and off my legs in one swift movement, faster than I would have thought possible.

I gripped his shoulders tightly as he freed himself from his boxers and poised himself at my entrance. I felt his forehead pressing into mine before he slowly sunk into me. I sucked in a sharp breath as I dug my nails into his back. He let out a low and guttural groan as he slowly slipped all the way into me.

Kit panted slightly, his forehead digging into the mattress beside my head, his hot breath tickling my shoulder. He groaned as he slowly pulled out of me, almost all the way, before he slowly sunk back in.

My mouth opened on its own accord as he pushed achingly slow back into me. I relished the feeling of being full again.

"So good." He moaned against my ear.

I desperately tried to catch my breath as he pulled out again before he sank slowly back into me. I had grown so accustom to the fast and punishing rhythm guys mostly employed nowadays that the slow and torturous rhythm created new feelings in me. I had never known a guy to take his time like this, as if he was too caught up in just being inside me to want to quickly find his release. It was as if he wanted to make this moment between us last for as long as possible.  I felt myself come to the brink each time he pushed into me, only to be brought away from it as he pulled out.

A strangled cry escaped my lips out of pleasure and frustration at being brought so close only to not find my release once more. Seeming encouraged by my sound he pushed back into me a little quicker and a little harder. I gripped his shoulders tightly as the first wave of pleasure washed through me. Again he pulled out and pushed in a little faster.

"Kit," I gasped as a wave of pleasure rolled through me.

I ground my hips against his, showing that I needed more and I needed it fast.

His hot breath began to hit my shoulder again in short burst as he began to move quicker. In and out, I felt my insides coil tightly, my lips beside his ear; he began to match his rhythm to my pants, seeming encouraged by the sound.

I gasped loudly and Kit moaned against me.

Suddenly he was moving so fast and pushing into me so hard that I could barely catch my breath, my pleasure built faster than I thought was possible before I held my breath as my orgasm crashed through me. He stilled suddenly, his cry muffled by my hair as he found his own climax. 

My fingers slipped from his shoulders from the perspiration that had built there. I ran my hands down his taunt arms before I turned my head and captured his lips with my own.

He held himself up as he pulled out of me and his hand went to my hair. He kissed me passionately for several moments before he pulled back, “Hey.” He said quietly.

I smiled at his response, laughing in amusement. I reached up and placed my hand on the side of his face, I wanted to know how close he was to me. I trailed my thumb over his slightly parted lips, feeling the soft, wet skin there. His breath coming out in short sharp gasps. He captured my thumb between his teeth and bit down on it gently.

“Ow.” I smiled as I pulled my thumb from his mouth.

I felt him turn his head to the side as he placed a kiss to the palm of my hand before he leaned down and rested his head against my chest. I knew he could hear the frantic hammering of my heart in my chest but I didn’t care. I was too caught up in the feel of his body pressing into mine.

I was tired and felt as if I could sleep for a week, utterly content to fall into the deep bliss of dreaming with Kit’s head resting against my chest. But he had other plans. He shifted slightly and his lips came up to lazily kiss mine.

I wanted to pull back, to catch my breath as I felt my heart hammering in my chest, but his lips would not release mine until he went to my neck and I cried out in pleasure as he trailed kisses down between my breast before taking one of my nipples into his mouth, I suddenly felt the familiar urge as I realized Kit was getting an erection again.

I gripped two handfuls of the sheet either side of me as his tongue swirled around my nipple, tugging at it gently before he began to kiss my neck again; I closed my eyes as pleasure began to build within me again. There was no break between when he had grown hard to when he slipped inside me. I had just enough time to gasp and clench around him before he began to move within me again. I'd never seen a guy grow so hard so quickly after coming. Did he really want me that much?

My heart was still racing from my first orgasm when pleasure began to build inside me for a second one.

He was faster this time, not pulling out so far but seeming to push into me harder than before. Gripping his hips, I began to meet his thrusts, things were harsher this time. Clouded with more need and want for one another than before. A startled cry escaped my lips as I felt a wave of pleasure crash over me.

He groaned against my neck before he became frantic in his thrust, emitting a small sound with each one. I was unable to concentrate and released his hips, letting him set the pace as I went back to gripping the blankets beneath me. I felt my nails dig into the palms of my hands through the sheets as my toes curled as a second orgasm, far stronger than the first crashed through me.

I cried out louder than I had the first time as Kit continued to push into me. I clenched around him as he moaned against my neck, stilling once more as he reached his own orgasm. We clutched one another tightly before he collapsed on top of me.

I focused on my breathing, trying to catch my breath as I felt his hot pants against my neck, his body weight pressed me into the mattress, trapping me beneath him I was unable to move as my breathing slowly returned to normal. I let my fingers draw lazy circles on his shoulder as he slowly came down from his orgasm, his breathing found a normal rhythm once more and he pulled out of me. I winced slightly at the sensation but made no sound…

After a moment his arms became taunt as he lifted off me before he kissed me again in a slow and leisurely way. I placed my hands gently on his shoulders, feeling too tried to grip them like I wanted to.   

After a moment he rolled to the side. I lifted my head for a moment so he could wrap both his arms around me before I placed my hands gently against his chest, my head resting against the crook between his arm and shoulder.

He pressed a kiss to my forehead lovingly. I could feel him smiling against my skin as he took a deep breath in, seeming to inhale my scent.

“That was-” he began, seeming unable to finish.

“Long overdue.” I smiled.

He chuckled as he held be closer, sighing in contentment, “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.” He told me.

“How long?” I asked curiously.

“Ever since I first saw you sipping on that smoothie.” He explained.

I laughed loudly, my body shaking with amusement. He held me to him, laughing as well.

I could not imagine a better feeling than being wrapping in his arms after being so deeply and thoroughly satisfied.

There was no place on earth I would rather be in that moment.

…

When I woke, I was alone in bed. Something that concerned me.

Sitting up, I had no idea where I was. I knew I was in Kit’s bedroom but I had no idea where my cane was, I had no bearings. I grabbed the bed blanket and pulled it up around my chest, holding it as a secure cover as a flicker of fear shot through me.

“Kit?” I called, could he hear me? Was he still in the room?

I heard the toilet flush and the sound of a door opening, “Hey,” said a familiar voice, “You’re awake.”

The end of the bed dipped down and I felt his hands press into the bed either side of me.

“How long was I asleep?” I asked curiously.

“A while.” He said and I felt the bed shift as he crawled along the bed towards me, “I didn’t want to wake you.”

I felt his warm breath hit my face.

“Were you watching me sleep?” I asked curiously.

“Only for a little while.” He said simply.

“Creeper.” I accused, slightly amused.

“Bite me.”

Smiling I reached up and found his face quite close to mine before I pressed my lips to his. I leaned back against the pillows to pull him closer and he edged along the bed closer towards me as his lips.

It was amazing how instantly my body responded his. I had no idea if he was clothed or not but I immediately felt the knots in my stomach clench with desire. I wanted him closer to me. The feel of his taunt arms beside me did strange things to me, it reminded me of the last time they had been either side of me, holding his weight as he crushed me. I wanted that feeling again.

I ran my fingers through his hair and down his neck, feeling the smooth skin of his still bare chest. I was just wondering whether he was wearing any clothing at all when I felt him smile against my lips before he pulled back, “I was going to have a shower. Want to join me?” he asked, his voice was both playful and full of anticipation. 

Showers were tricky. They were slippery and unbalanced. I didn’t generally like to shower in unfamiliar places. But the thought of being in the shower with Kit was appealing. Doing anything together naked sounded appealing at that point.

“You could wash my back?” he suggested, his lips smiling against mine.

I liked the idea of water dripping over us as my hands slid over his body. I could feel every muscles, crease and dip of his body. Something I really wanted to do. I wanted to know his body as well as I knew my own. I wanted to see what reactions I could tease out of him. What he could tease out in me…

But as his tongue slipped into my mouth, the shower suddenly felt too far away.

“Let’s get dirty first.” I murmured against his lips.

He didn’t disagree. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Lovelies, hope you liked the starting chapter. To find out more about the story and see all the little extras that go with it, check out my tumblr: http://teaenthusiast65.tumblr.com/


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